


Harry Potter and the Lethifold Division

by Mikhail_Garcia



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, Les Misérables - Victor Hugo, The Scarlet Pimpernel - Baroness Orczy
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-13
Updated: 2016-04-09
Packaged: 2018-05-26 12:31:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 26
Words: 54,490
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6239425
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mikhail_Garcia/pseuds/Mikhail_Garcia
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>This is the craziness that ensues when you have agents of the ICW, the Golden Trio plus Luna, Les Amis de l'ABC and the Blakeneys tackle modern terrorism through the wizarding world's eyes. A side story for Luna's Doodles and my 2015 NaNoWriMo novel as MadHatter1203</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Harry takes in a long deep breath of the November air and walks around Diagon Alley, towards the Weasley Wizarding Wheezes shop. His peaceful smile, not minding the populace who is still at awe of him, reflects the wonders of the vacation he recently experienced in Paris.

' _Not every day I get to spend time with Lily. Lucky though, I have time off before getting back to the Auror office.'_ Harry tells himself as he opens the doors to the lively shop. Dodging a flying bowler hat to the head, he sees George back at him.

"Welcome back, partner!" George welcomes, guiding him along to the back and their private quarters on top of the shop.

"How's the shop?" Harry inquires, seeing the various experiments being tested, from prank phones to perfume.

"Business is doing well. Ron actually came up with the 'Oddjob' bowlers that would make you sing one of the James Bond movie songs in falsetto. And it's becoming another hit."

"Good to know, George." Harry replies, giving George a quick handshake and then opens the door to the guest room.

Ron and Hermione are both sitting on the couch, blushing with crumpled shirts. Their eyes lock on to Harry and both look like deer caught in headlights.

"I was about to say get a room, but we are in a room already." Harry quips casually, closing the door behind him.

"Shut it you. Go away, specs." Ron retorts with a welcoming smile while Hermione straightens her pale pink comic-con 2014 shirt.

"Good to have you back Harry." Hermione adds, wrapping her arms around Harry for a moment before going back to Ron.

"Pickles," Ron whispers and Harry suddenly finds himself sloshed by pickle brine from behind. "That's for interrupting."

The three laugh it off as the plastic pickle bucket floats away from the three. Once the container is our of sight, Harry remarks, "Well played. Looks like I'll just have to sic Jamie and Freddie on you in the Christmas break."

Hermione and Ron look at each other and shiver, remembering the last time they were the victims of those two.

Harry cleans himself up with magic and moves his chair closer, changing the teacups into one large parchment and summons a bic ballpoint pen. He then writes one line in the middle.

_The corsairs are in Malta_

The effect was instantaneous. Ron immediately flicks his wand to close the doors and windows, while Hermione casts wards only used during confidential meetings between the Minister of Magic and the department heads during a crisis.

"What in the flying fuck? I bloody thought we kept the continent safe from those scum-sucking bastards!" Hermione rages, slamming her left fist into the table. Her eyes are razor sharp with unrestrained fury. "Turkey was supposed to stop the tide after the ICW gave us their word that they will keep everything under control!"

Ron holds Hermione's hand and shakes his head. "Let it be, mine." Turning his attention to Harry, he asks, "How did you get the information?"

"Auguste Enjolras. He kept watch over me and Lily in Paris, even if I didn't want someone to tail me like some diplomat." Harry explains, trying but failing to hide his irritation at the thought. "Before you ask, yes, the same Auguste who was with us in the Hagia Sofia, when a squib tried to blow up one of the wall with the C4 inside her charmed pouch."

Ron closes his eyes and shakes his head for a moment to process the repercussions of the news. "We'll have to hit this at the very root or at least close to it. Haven't you noticed that all our missions have been to respond to the Syrian crisis and ISIS in coordination with the ICW?"

"Ron, you aren't suggesting?"

"I am, love. I think it might be time to bring the fight to them." Ron focuses his attention to a pensive Harry. "What do you think Harry?"

Running his hand through his messy hair, he says, "We'll have to discuss this with Kingsley at least. If we fight, we'll be away from our families and might never come back. Do I have to remind you about that near miss in Kos?"

_Early March 2014_

_Naxos, Greece_

On top of the flourishing green hills in the idyllic Cyclades, Hermione, Ron and Harry enjoy the commanding and picturesque view of the sea. The sun slowly sets and bathes the sand and surf with golden light. It reminds them of the peace and serenity they achieved after the war. The world, for that moment at least, seems perfect in its imperfection.

Harry's eyebrows furrow before he mutters, "I think our minders are here," holding his holly wand firmly on his hand. Two popping sounds are heard and the three catch the two people unaware as they apparate near them.

The three point their wands reflexively at the new arrivals. Upon closer inspection, they're both wearing robes with the ICW insignia of a globe, a crown of laurels underneath and a wand in front of the globe.

"I told you we should have walked here instead, Mikhail!" the shorter woman berates the tanned Chinese man with her.

"It saves time, Katherine." Mikhail remarks to his lithe blue-haired and pale skinned companion. "My apologies, I got too excited to see the British Trio."

Katherine slugs Mikhail on the left shoulder and, with a slight bow, she begins, "I am Katherine Watson and my idiotic companion is Mikhail Chung. We're your friendly neighborhood ICW 'minders', if you will."

"I hate that term. We aren't personal peons for those saggy-skinned old men to push around." Mikhail interrupts before continuing, "We're here to debrief you on the magical communities in this part of the world."

"But first, let's get somewhere comfortable." Katherine brings out a climber's rope and says, "Please hold on to this, it's a portkey to our operations area here in Naxos."

A tug later, they all settle down in a café overlooking the Aegean Sea.

Hermione gazes absentmindedly at the sea, while Mikhail explains the details.

"There has been a rumor of religious fundamentalist muggles searching and eliminating magicals in the war zones of Syria, along with those of other faiths. Normally, we would dismiss the thought, but as you can see," Katherine takes out photos inside a manila envelope and lays these down on the table.

Hermione inspects the photos closer and sees a rune written in Sanskrit woven into the right gloves of some of the aggressors. "It translates into _indrajAlika,_ " Hermione responds, "why do they have the word wizard there? Isn't that _haram_ or forbidden?"

Mikhail's face turns grim and he replies, "That's the thing we need to know as well. One of the defector squibs told us that it warms up when they're touching a wizard, then they'll execute."

"Why not use wands?" Ron inquires.

Katherine nods and explains, "Not every country is as blessed as Europe to have wand makers such as Gregorovich and Ollivander. It's too expensive to even import in that country."

Harry lets out a sigh and asks, "I apologize, but what do you mean by forbidden? How can anyone forbid someone from magic he or she is born with?"

"In Abrahamic traditions such as Judaism, Christianity and Islam, the practice of magic is forbidden and is punishable by death. That's why the Statute of Secrecy was established because of the senseless loss of life. Before this, you can escape and be unseen, as long as you blend in with the community you live in. Being disowned for being magical child is also the usual route most families take in the Middle East." Mikhail explains, focusing his sight onto the sea. "I've seen too many magical kids get killed these past five years. We needed your help because you're the only active ones with hands on experience handling terrorists such as Voldemort and his Death Eaters. The ICW wants to recover as many magical as we can here first and take them to safety."

Harry, Ron and Hermione take a moment to look at each other, before Ron replies, "We're in. Where do we start?"

_A week after_

_Kos, Greece_

Ron sees a makeshift plastic raft in the distance, where other rafts evade for no good reason through his omniculars. "I spot one, Mikhail."

"Let's make our way towards them. Move silently with me, wands out," Mikhail whispers, with everyone moving single file with wands at ready. Harry behind Mikhail, Hermione in the middle, Ron after and Katherine keeping the rear guarded.

As they inch closer, they see a family of four with two girls bringing down their meager belongings on a patched up flying carpet. On the beach is a man wearing a ratty blue military coat with faded jeans and a messy shirt.

"Off to our next stop then, Naxos. Now where is the payment?" A man with a gruff tone and a French accent demands to the oldest of the group.

"We only have five galleons sir, have mercy. We just want to leave that warzone."

A spell leaves his wand and it blasts the man back into the water. Pointing his wand at the family before him, he shouts, "You have no use for the likes of me then. All of you, back to the raft! I'll send you back to Bodrum!"

"Enough!" Harry shouts, disarming the mean-spirited man before Mikhail could even react. Hermione follows through with a ropes and Ron finishes with a stunning spell. All hit their mark within a second.

While Katherine and Mikhail take care of the women and their belongings, Ron pulls the man out of the water.

"You saved us."

"We would do if for anyone. Let's get you out of here."

Horror dawns upon them when they could not apparate away after Mikhail and Katherine left for the rendezvous point in one of the hotel rooms in Kos.

A cutter hits the water near them and they look at the source. Twenty men in robes start to open fire at them.

"Take down that rat and those who foolishly save him! The ICW doesn't understand the hardship we go through, saving trash such as that! They've desecrated our home!" A Greek witch shouts before receiving a return salvo of canaries from Hermione.

Harry assesses the situation immediately. _'Anti-apparition ward, outnumbered nearly 7 to 1 and Ron's shield isn't going to hold much longer. We've only incapacitated three people for now. Should I bring out the other wand? Mikhail and Katherine are too far away and they have may have reinforcements coming in.'_

Keeping the tied up man and injured father behind them, Ron pours more magic on his shield while Hermione and Harry go on the offensive.

Spells fly from both sides while Harry's left hand inches closer to the Elder wand. As his fingertips touch the Deathstick, it pulses faintly, almost as if begging to be unleashed in a fight.

Ron's shield fails from the bombardment and just as Harry is about to pull his other wand into the fight, a commotion happens from behind their aggressors.

Hermione notices the spells fly from behind the attackers which cause them to panic and lift the wards to escape.

Ron pants heavily while on his knees in the sand, Hermione begins to heal the wounded father and Harry keeps his wand pointed and on guard.

Three figures approach them hurriedly and Harry could now see that it was Mikhail and Katherine with a blond curly-haired man who resembles a cherub more than an avenging angel.

"We came as soon as we could. If it wasn't for Apolline, we wouldn't have realized at once that you were ambushed." Mikhail apologizes as the ICW duo begins to help out Ron and Hermione clear the place up before removing the muggle repelling ward in the area.

"I've been looking for this bastard for ages." The blonde man remarks then gives the tied up wizard a kick in the ribs.

"Repeat offender?" Harry inquires with a smile of relief.

"Like you wouldn't believe, _Le Survivant_ ," his demeanor changes from serious to lightly amused, "He always manages to slip due to technicality." His robes show him being a Lieutenant Captain of the French Auror department.

"Harry Potter. Please just call me Harry." Harry introduces himself with an open handshake. The man nods and shakes it.

"Auguste Enjolras. I hope we'll meet on better circumstances. I'm pretty sure we will have a couple of chances with the ongoing influx of wizards and witches fleeing the war in Syria. Can I take this man?"

"By all means Auguste."

Auguste looks at his pocket watch and apologizes, "I'm sorry I have to leave. Our team leader needs me to coordinate the next wave up north."

Harry nods and they both apparate away to their chosen destinations. _'We haven't even found any clues as to who is leading them at all.'_

"We don't need a reminder, but even if we want to help, we have to keep England secure." Hermione informs them and making them realize the risk they would take compared to a few years ago.

"How about we call in the old D.A.?" Ron voices out his suggestion, but Harry shakes his head.

"We can't, they have their own lives now. The Auror office will have to hold the fort while I'm out."

"So we stop them at France before they land on our shores?" Hermione asks. Her face scrunches up from the possible aftermath of that course of action.

"I'll have to. I promised Luna I'll keep our family safe." Harry answers, removing all the wards and protections of the room. "I'll talk to Kingsley, but I hope it will never reach home by helping France now."

With that, the three go their separate ways to prepare for the coming storm.


	2. Chapter 2

_Rue de la Magie_ is an oddity in itself, as Apolline Delacour can attest. Found in one of the many streets of Sorbonne inside the Latin Quarter, the former center of learning becomes the usual haunt of the wizarding communities in Paris.

As she walks, her youthful appearance of a blooming 30 year old still catches the eye of the occasional passerby, but she has one thing her daughters have yet to learn. A strong active occulumency shield on her mind keeps the aura under control.

It is a clear sky out in Paris on the start of October mostly, the cold weather perfect for her crisp tailor-made coat with warming runes stitched into the material. She smiles pleasantly at seeing her husband, Louis Delacour, who is sitting outside the Rue d'Or café while sipping coffee.

Louis has graying black hair and shorter features smile back at his wife, standing up and lightly kissing her lips. "The sun in my life, I'm glad to see you safe."

He pulls out a chair for Apolline and they both sit down together. A waiter brings an extra cup and pours coffee for both cups. After the server leaves, Mrs. Delacour taps her wand from her pouch and instantly, everyone turns their attention away from their table. Louis his own set and their jovial facades drops after.

"Any word from the enclaves my beloved?" Louis opens, holding Apolline's hand and fixing his gaze into his wife's beautiful sapphire orbs.

"The veelas vowed to stay neutral, if that's what you're asking. Gavroche also lets me know that the 18th to 20th _arrondissements_ have seen suspicious movements around recently." Apolline replies.

"My travels to Bulgaria confirm the same thing for me. I know I can't talk about my work as an Unspeakable, but the Syrian refugee problem has been going out of hand for the past few years now. Even the magical communities in Iraq and Syria are running for their lives." Louis explains, checking if the wards he put up are still functioning. ' _So far, so good'_

"Are you sure it is wise to involve the young auror in training?"

"I'm pretty sure about having him scout around. For one, he's immune to my aura and Gabrielle's long time crush on Harry Potter disappeared just two minutes while talking to him. His greatest advantage however, is the fact that he knows every street in Paris like the back of his hand." Apolline remarks to the wonderment of her husband.

Taking his last sip of coffee, he holds and kisses his wife's hand and whispers, "Tell him to take a closer look at the disgruntled people from those three areas. My ears on the ground have been alerting me that they're planning something big again. We cannot afford another mistake like that attack at Charlie Hebdo. They may be idiots for provoking the lone wolf attack by drawing the Muslim prophet Muhammad, but this is France. We can draw and say what we want because it's inscribed in the foundations of our motherland. We'd hope for people to at least be civilized about disagreeing. We even tell our presidents to fuck off to their faces."

Louis' hands start shaking further and his eyebrows furrow from the frustration that they, as a couple, had all the information back then, but did not act on it.

Apolline shakes her head with a sad smile, then states, "We did what we could, _mon roi_. We did better after, just like we're going to get those corsairs that dare to destroy France and England."

They both bring down the wards and security measures and Apolline wraps her arms around Louis. " _Je'taime mon roi._ " She whispers and Louis replies, " _Je t'aime ma reine._ "

"You really are a croissant addict, discussing the best places every single time we meet for coffee." Apolline exclaims, finishing their cover of a happy and naïve couple in love.

On the other side of Paris, Jean Valjean's weary eyes focus on the computer and traces the new websites extremists use to draw in the disgruntled Muslim youth. On his third coffee already, he shakes his head in exasperation as his hands shake due to caffeine. "I'm too old for this already," his eyes wander towards the small cross on the wall and fix onto a silver candlestick on the far side of the living room, beside hand-crafted owl perch for Euphrasie Cosette Pontmercy, "but God provides the strength to keep at this noble task of bringing down these temptations of bloodshed."

A pair of feminine arms wraps around his shoulder and he smiles softly at the comforting gesture. "How are you, Cosette?"

"I'm doing fine Papa. Marius will come here later as well. Also, I know I haven't visited for the last month, but I have the most wonderful experience of meeting Harry Potter and his beautiful daughter Lily."

Jean nods and rests his back on the chair for a moment. "I still can't grasp magic much, but I find it handy." He comments, as Cosette floats the mugs to the kitchen sink and arranges the notes he made onto an enlarged corkboard near his computer. His computer display shakes a bit from the quick magic but still functions to his relief. "And of course, it messes up with my equipment every now and then."

"Sorry about that."

"It's not a problem now. Courfeyrac, Feuilly and I placed EMP protections in the equipment recently. You forgetting I work with a computer and clearing up the mess with magic just proved that experiment of ours works." Jean remarks with his smile changing into a full-on grin at his adopted daughter.

Euphrasie shakes her head at the revelation and decides to write Marius a message for now. She walks upstairs to her room and to her surprise, she finds Marius sleeping on her bed. She begins to brush aside her long silky blond hair, as she takes off her Auror uniform. The robes fall off her lithe, almost ballerina-like body and she slips into a night gown. A soft smile lines her lips, while the moonlight caresses her pale skin. _"If only you weren't sleeping, Marius."_

Feeling the exhaustion from her shift as an Auror, she sighs, then lifts the covers and wraps her arms around her husband before closing her eyes to rest.

She begins to dream about the days as an auror-in-training with Auguste in the muggle President's office along with Minister Du Pont.

After increasing the Vigipirate level to Scarlet, the President arranges the meeting Minister Du Pont to coordinate the protection of France.

"I hope there are no unrests on your end. We just suffered through an attack on one of our publications. I asked for a meeting so we can verify if your group has any insight or heaven-forbid, involvement in this attack."

"We do our best to keep away from muggle events. There hasn't been proof of attacks from the magical community since the fall of Voldemort." Du Pont ponders for a moment before adding, "But we shall have my two operatives confirm."

Minister Du Pont gestures to Euphrasie and Auguste and they both give their salute. "You shall report your findings to the president in two hours and no more."

An hour later, hidden behind notice-me-not charms, the two Aurors commit the crime scene to memory. The tears threaten to leave Cosette's eyes but she manages to hold it back. She glances at Auguste and she sees a stoic but calculating gaze on his eyes.

Her focus moves to a small stone on the floor, stained with blood. Taking a closer look, she sees a reversed Eihwaz pulsing magic through faded blue light. "Confusion," she whispers and turns her attention back to her companion. Auguste nods in understanding and picks up the stone before they leave the crime scene.

' _Damn, we have involvement of magicals. Du Pont is going to bust a vein.'_ Auguste tells himself, reporting their findings to the Minister of Magic.

Cosette wakes up with cold sweat dropping down her forehead and to Marius nudging her to awaken. "Is it that particular nightmare, _ma cherie_?" Marius asks, before embracing his wife. She merely nods and holds him tighter.

"We could have done better, Marius. It has already been years, but I still feel we should have done better." She ponders softly.

"We have. We've come a long way from our own barricade in Sorbonne about adapting to the advance pace of technology and matching the muggles by integration and cooperation. We have improved coordinating with the muggle police and stopped more attacks than what got past us. Even Jean has been a godsend with tapping into the cameras and helping us stop more terrorist attacks than what our government has tallied." Marius responds, kissing Cosette on the cheek. "Stop worrying and let's go to bed."

A smirk appears on Cosette's face and she shouts, "Huggy!" hugging Marius and then tickling him. The night fills itself up with laughter, easing the worries of Cosette and Marius for the evening.

That same evening somewhere in the Sahara, a sun-kissed Arabian man looks up to the sky and sighs at the stars in the night sky. The winds have started to be cold, but it doesn't bother the man at all while wearing his white _thobe_ with warming runes and wand holster on a makeshift belt. He takes off his sandals and curls his feet at the sand for the sheer pleasure of the memories of the sea and sand.

Two people walk towards him and he closes his eyes for a moment in brief surrender to his visitors.

"Harun Benayoun?" one of two arrivals inquires, their wands at ready but not pointed at the man.

"Yes, I am. Supplier of croakoa to Honeydukes and if the British did not ban those, I'd probably trade them flying carpets as well. Are you the people the ICW has sent?" Harun answers, facing his visitors. An old scar lines from his left eyebrow to his right cheek in one clean line. His wand his visible but he keeps his hands away from it. _"After all,"_ he thought, _"I want to help before this world goes to further shit with pointless religious fueled bigotry."_

"I'm Katherine Watson and he's Mikhail Chung., your ICW minders." Katherine nonchalantly introduces the both of them, while keeping watch of the surroundings. "I believe you have some information for us?"

"Not here. Even the sands have ears. Take me to a safe place first." Harun remarks, then is scanned by Mikhail. After he finishes casting charms, he nicks himself on his right index finger and starts writing in Chinese on a piece of rectangular rice paper. At the exact moment he finishes, he flings the talisman at Harun and the paper swirls around the Arab for a moment before glowing gold and then burns instantaneously.

"He's clear. Let's get out of here. It's pretty cold." Mikhail suggests and the three apparate back to the café and semi-permanent headquarters of the ICW for their team in Naxos.

Making themselves comfortable in a round table for four, Harun places his hands on the table and begins the conversation, "I'm glad to see that my message has gotten in without being intercepted." Looking around for a moment he then adds, "Where are your other teammates? I was expecting the International Confederation of Wizards to have at least ten in a problem such as the movement of refugees from Syria."

Katherine's face darkens and she curses, " _Pucha!_ Those bastards thought two wands would suffice to cover the entire Aegean Sea! That's why it's just me and Mikhail."

Mikhail merely slaps his palm on his face with exasperation and Harun's jaw drops in disbelief. "So you mean to say, those impotent old goats have responded to the biggest exodus crisis since the Grindelwald war with two people? I cannot believe how the ICW is still standing."

"You're not the only one, Harun." Mikhail comments, while running his hand through his messy hair. "Wait, I just remembered something, are you a practitioner of Islam?"

Harun's eyes narrow into slits and sharply looks at Mikhail. "I've seen those extremist sprouting verses from the Quran murder men and women, boys and girls, in their hopes of creating a caliphate like during the Ottoman Empire. Of course the blame also goes with the wars that happened in Iraq, Libya and Afghanistan of Western oppression, so you can't just shove forward and say religion is the cause of the problem."

Curling his fists, he continues, "Faith and religions are something I'm not keen on being obedient on. I can conjure up tornadoes, make infernos and drown a man with _aguamenti_. But the thing is, Faith is a different type of magic, Mikhail. Behind the wizarding world's insistence on wands, spells, words and rituals, intent is the most important thing for any type of magic to work.

The unforgivable curses are the intent to kill, inflict hateful pain, and subvert the target. The Patronus is fuelled by the will to create an avatar of our happiest memories against dementors. Every spell is powered by our will and intent.

Faith is the intent to strive for being a better human being and the need to gather strength to achieve the seemingly insurmountable odds stacked against each one of us. It is the desire to have our needs and part of our true wants met, along with the happiness, peace and perhaps a chance for a better place beyond this cruel life.

I don't have any religious beliefs. I became an atheist after being tossed out of my home in Istanbul for my magic. But I became an agnostic after I met that barmy codger by the name of Wulfric Dumbledore, while I was selling croakcoa pods in the gritty streets in the Bazaar of Magic. I don't care if Yahweh, Allah or whoever it is actually exists, the intent of having faith in the magic of humanity within all of us is the reason I'm here with you, to help magical refugees abandoned and persecuted by religion with something they're born with."

Taking a deep breath, he squares his shoulders and adds, "Just like what I've heard from before. 'I was hungry, and you fed me. I was thirsty, and you gave me a drink. I was a stranger, and you invited me into your home.' I'm just repaying the favor those good people who did all these things with nothing in return, by helping them get out of the shithole that is the warzone down there."

Katherine and Mikhail digest his words for a moment, and then nod in appreciation of the sacrifice he is going to make.

"One more thing," Harun adds, "Paris is the next target and I've seen for myself that there will be a shipment of arms to France for a sleeper cell there in two weeks. Someone is supplying these shipments with complex runes to avoid detection. We have to stop it."


	3. Chapter 3

_November 4, 2015_

_Café d'Or_

The afternoon passes by with the beauty of the Rue d'Or. Outside the little café is a blackboard signage and words written in chalk saying, "We're closed today, sorry. These nutty journalists are having their monthly get together. By invite only."

Behind the façade of the annoying dog inside the piano is a muggle modern café, its neutral colors with light mahogany walls and dim lighting giving it the look of typical coffeeshops. The normal chairs and couches are transfigured into different standing tables, while impeccably dressed house elves carry appetizers of shrimp cocktails and club sandwiches along with some champagne floating behind them.

Luna smiles at one of the servers and asks, " _Comment allez-vous?_ "

" _Je suis bien, madame_ Potter. Be our guest, _merci beaucoup._ Do you want some snacks and refreshments, _ma cherie_?" The house-elf responds, lifting the tray closer to Luna.

Luna glances at the name tag and picks up a piece of shrimp cocktail and savors the taste, before saying, "Oui, _merci beaucoup_ M. Lumiere. _La nourriture est bonne_."

Lumiere bows slightly and smiles back at Luna before moving once more. Luna glances around the room and spots one of her fellow journalists being unceremoniously tossed out of the establishment by a witch and a wizard.

The witch is crowned with curls of ebony hair and exudes an aura of pomp with a dash of a warrior within such as herself. She wears a white lacy dress, almost like something to be used for weddings with two frilly straps and long white cotton gloves. She would definitely fit in 19th century aristocrat in Paris with little adjustments. The stormy grey eyes of the black-haired woman are fixed on Luna's silvery grey and beams at her coyly and her hand gestures letting Luna know that she isn't a threat to her. The lady reminds her of a foppish multi-millionaire the Potters met during the Ministry Christmas Ball last year.

The wizard on the other hand, appears younger than the witch. His subtle beard and mussed-up brown hair betrays the innocence in his eyes and the idealist Luna pictures him to have. After all she could see through most people behind the Loony persona she had back in her Hogwarts days. He dresses up a bit more like the modern muggleborns she's encountered. He wears royal blue overcoat that neatly covers his silk grey shirt, a navy blue, polished brown leather shoes and a darker shade of khaki for pants.

Upon arriving at the table, the wizard gently hold's Luna's right hand and kisses the knuckles lightly. "It is an honor to finally meet Luna Lovegood-Potter. My name is Jean Prouvaire but I prefer to be called Jehan. I'm actually a subscriber of the Quibbler. You wouldn't mind signing the Snorkack issue I've got right?"

Luna chuckles and takes out a fountain pen she saves for these occasions.

_To Jehan,_

_Keep watching out for Nargles, it's always bad for writing._

_Luna_

After signing, Luna gives the magazine back to Jehan, then turns her attention to the witch and furrows her eyebrows for a moment, before having a look of complete astonishment. "Marguerite St. Just-Blakeney! It's been a long time since I've seen you. My father always keeps clippings of articles you make on spell theory and current events. After all, we read The Wizarding Times when I was younger. The Daily Prophet, also known as the ministry rag is thankfully closed down after taking over. You can't imagine how much grief we took from that… thing."

Marguerite lets out a soft laugh in amusement and replies, "Me and Percy have settled a few loose ends and leads that's why I was out of the loop in the writing world. Rita Skeeter couldn't beat me because I taught her how to write. She is a good writer, but the thing is, she doesn't like to do any fact checking at all and blows everything out of unnecessary proportion. Still, let's not talk about sadder times when I had to stop doing what I love. How's the Quibbler by the way?"

Luna's glee visibly radiates in her eyes and answers, "The Quibbler is doing great, expanding into lighter discussions on theories and spell creations, as well as the various undocumented magical creatures such as the Crumple Horned Snorkack last month. That one is the most fulfilling work I've ever done to date. For that one, Dean Thomas actually did some photos on endangered muggle animals as well and Dennis Creevey wrote down the facts and figures on each one. Harry suggested the change in format a few months back to match those mundane publications, Discovery Magazine and National Geographic. From there, sales skyrocketed and Daddy is having a blast being on the field."

Luna muses a bit before remembering the man her two guests tossed out. "So why did you toss that man out by the way? He said something unkind?"

Jehan lets out a sigh and replies, "I tossed him out because he insulted Cogsworth the house-elf."

Marguerite chimes in and adds, "And I tossed him out because he was being a braggart about how the Daily Prophet was the best thing England ever had until my newspaper came along and ruined it. He was Rita Skeeter's associate editor in the misinformation department."

"I bet that peeved you to no end, Marguerite." Luna remarks while shaking her head at the thought of that lady.

"Like you wouldn't believe, Luna," Mrs. Blakeney acknowledges, "but if my sources were correct, she cowered in fear when we published our return edition to The Wizarding Times. The headline was, 'Percy Blakeney revives The Wizarding Times after the war.'"

Luna and Jehan laugh heartily at the hand gestures Marguerite uses while describing the fall of the Daily Prophet.

"I regret giving it up though. That newspaper could have been of more use before the war and the crucifixion of Harry Potter's warnings and person." The light on Blakeney's eyes disappears for a moment, knowing that she picked trying to help Percy keep the second Voldemort war from spreading to the continent.

Luna places her left hand on Marguerite's right that is resting on the table. "Things worked out in the end. We all have our entrances and exits, with the roles we play."

Jehan was about to say something to support Luna, but he notices two new people entering the fray. Most of the men in the room are drawn to a blonde lady and a blond chap, casually dressed in business casual attire. The pale-skinned lady wears a scarlet dress reaching down an inch below her knees and three inch heels, while holding the left arm of the gentleman who's dressed in a light blue long-sleeved polo folded neatly to his elbows, navy blue pants and worn steel toe boots. There's a certain mischief in his eyes, to which Jehan immediately recognizes and slaps his palm on his face.

"Not you… Auguste is going to kill you." Jehan mutters as the new arrivals join them.

Luna and Gabrielle Delacour share a warm hug and Jehan shakes his head at Gavroche.

"To my defense Jehan, I'm here only because I can't keep my arms off the lovely Madamoiselle Delacour," Gav remarks, which earns him a punch on the shoulder from Gabrielle.

"Behave. Gabrielle Delacour, it is a pleasure to meet you Madame Blakeney."

"The pleasure is all mine. You have a good eye for the written word. Pity, Mrs. Potter already has you on staff." Marguerite quips in jest.

Luna shakes her head and replies, "I'm just glad she's a natural at what we do."

Jehan starts to take out a set of folders from his pocket but Marguerite stops him. "We unfortunately have something very important to discuss with you, Luna. Would it trouble you to leave early along with us?"

"No it would not. I suppose it is about Malta?" Luna inquires. Her eyes reverts from her dreamy vacant look to the focused warrior that Harry calls the 'Moon blade face.'

Marguerite, Jehan and Gavroche eyes lit up at the mere mention of the word, realizing that Luna is up to speed and perhaps even better informed by them. Gabrielle on the other hand, notices but decides to keep silent for now.

"Know a place we can discuss the sights and sounds of countries in the Mediterranean Sea?" Luna requests, and then turns her attention to the couple, "Don't worry about us, please enjoy your date you two. It's just something travelers like us three would do after these events."

Satisfied that no one is listening in their conversation, Jehan nods and leads the three of them out after saying their goodbyes to Gavroche and Gabrielle.

Once they were out of the café, Marguerite and Luna engage in their talk about Rolf Scamander's discovery of the Crumple-Horned Snorkack, while Jehan leads them to a couple of alleys where they circle around in a random pattern before apparating away to _Rue Allent_ , in between _Rue de Lille_ and _Rue Verneuil_.

"Welcome to my home, overlooking the Seine and Rue de l'Université. Convenient, _non_?" Jehan remarks, seeing his wife isn't home yet. _"Another busy day at the Mysteries department, I guess."_ He tells himself, before readying a few drinks and snacks from an icebox with never-melting ice to serve to his guests.

"How much do you know about the scenario, Marguerite?" Luna asks with genuine concern evident in her eyes, not meeting Marguerite's.

"Enough. I'm also concerned about our findings of active runes on some of the recruits ISIS gets from the disgruntled Muslim community. Percy is beside himself and assumes the Scarlet Pimpernel is probably on the case already." Marguerite replies. She sighs her frustration of the scenarios happening around Europe from the threat of ISIS to the refugees trying to escape the warzone.

"We shall have to fight the coming storm with everything we've got, at least, that's how Harry views it. But when to where do we stop? We call it quits after we've defeated the mastermind behind the recent spree of rune planting by wizards? We have no clue on who is behind it. We'll just have to wait until we catch a break." Luna voices out her thoughts and adds, "but we wouldn't have it any other way."

Marguerite nods in approval and drinks some grape juice Jehan gives her. Luna takes the apple cider and Jehan takes out the folders on his coat after activating the wards with a flick of his wand.

"At least I won't have to introduce it." Jehan quips, opens the folders and then lines these up for his two fellow journalists to read.

"From what we've gathered so far, the ICW is underestimating the problem for some reason. I don't know what to be honest. They've gotten a hold of an informant and informant in the name of Harun Benayoun, who is in fact a self-made rags-to-riches millionaire due to trading in Europe with his croakoa plantations in Brazil and the Philippines. At the moment, he's using his expertise in logistics and international trade to send magicals to the safer havens of Europe. Recently, he's gotten word of a weapons supply heading here. We're unable to intercept it with the limited resources and manpower we've got from the Ministry, so our rag tag team of Beauxbatons alumni and barricade buddies decided to ask for your help. This is too organized to just be random hits around terrorists."

Jehan pauses for a moment and grins at the steel in their eyes, knowing in his gut that they will never allow injustice to happen in their plate. He closes his eyes for a moment to be grateful. _"I wish you were here, Zelma. I'd like to have you tell Eponine how we're going to have a shot at fighting the master behind the puppets spilling blood."_

He duplicates the files and the two women receive it quietly. "For now, keep it close. We can meet at the _Rue d'Or_ two days from now.

"Thank you for your time. I'll be heading out. See you in two days." Luna remarks, tilting her head slightly to the side with a soft smile before she apparates away.

"Thank you as well for helping me toss that asshole."

"Any time Mrs. Blakeney."

"Is it going to be that bad?"

"Terribly bad, I'm afraid. Every one of my friends from Beauxbatons worries about the events in the muggle world. Even Huginn and Muninn are bracing themselves." Jehan explains, and nods with resignation on his façade at Marguerite.

"I know. Percy and I will discuss this. We'll have to send word to those who can do something soon. See you by then." Marguerite says before leaving Jehan for the day.

The Frenchman looks up to the clear blue sky and feels the chill in the air. _War is already upon us, but I hope I'm wrong._


	4. Chapter 4

_November 5, 2015_

_British Ministry of Magic_

Harry, Ron, Hermione and Luna make their way to Kingsley Shacklebolt's office on a brisk but carefree state. The ministry employees have gotten used to these visits from the ring leaders of the Hogwarts defense during the times of Voldemort's second coming. After all, they are kin by blood spilled for freedom.

Once they got inside the waiting room, Kingsley's twenty year old personal assistant stands up to usher them to their seats. Her black pencil cut knee high skirt and white blouse wouldn't be out of place in a muggle setting. After all, she prefers it to those bulky robes where she'd have a hard time drawing her wand in case of any emergencies. Her auburn hair is currently fashioned to an apple cut and her violet eyes glance fondly at the four. _'Pity, Ginny doesn't join these things anymore, ever since Harry married Luna. We used to play UNO Cards when they adopted me after the war. At least Neville still visits when he isn't stuck teaching Herbology.'_ The secretary tells herself, fixing the nameplate again.

"Adriana, the nameplate still won't stay still after that angry Russian undersecretary hexed it?" Hermione asks, while the other three make themselves comfortable on the guest couches.

"Unfortunately that is the case, Hermione." Adriana replies apologetically. An idea presents itself from two blank pieces of paper around and she transfigures it into a nail and a hammer. The wood nameplate never stood a chance of moving after getting loudly nailed in place. "There, now stay put, you ruddy blighter."

She looks up and sees the stifled laughter on their lips, especially Ron, who's going red biting back at how ironic it was to see that display of aggression therapy. "Don't even say anything before I hex you four." She threatens with a playful smirk on her lips.

Opening the Kingsley's office slightly, she says, "Four hooligans are here for your detention, Kingsley."

That statement earns a hearty laugh within and he jests, "Let them in. I'll make sure Mr. Filch will hang them by their wrists if they give me much more grief."

Kingsley transfigures the two chairs in front of his desk into two love couches. The Weasley couple sits on the left and the Potters to the right.

"Glad to see you up and about. Do you have the after-action report for your stint in the ICW mission?" Kingsley requests and a dossier floats towards him from Hermione's pouch.

"Good work. Would you like some refreshments and snacks?" Minister Shacklebolt offers and four trays appear with a selection of biscuits and tea.

Luna and Hermione both take a cup each while Ron eats the biscuits. Harry only takes a bottle of water.

"I suppose you'd like to talk about something far more serious, Harry?" Kingsley opens, resting his elbows on the table and squares his gaze towards Harry's focused green orbs.

"Why am I not surprised that you've got me?" Harry quips, while shaking his head in exasperation.

"Of all my department heads, you're the most transparent. That is why I trust you the most in making sure that we don't have a repeat of another war for a long time. Besides, you've ignored the Scottish shortbread. You never do that unless you have important news to say."Kingsley replies while his instincts tell him that the news Harry has will affect them all in a big way.

"Open the dossier first though, Kingsley." Luna suggests, fiddling with her fingers in anxious wait. Ron stops his eating and clears up his face with a napkin and Hermione finishes her tea in one straight gulp.

Minister Shacklebolt begins to read the report and his eyes narrow more with each page until he sees the recommendations. Closing the dossier a little too harshly, he keeps his tone and temper in check. "Can you explain why you would suggest we send in a team of aurors with you to conduct operations in France? This goes against the Burgundy Accord, let alone the fact that this could lead to war between France, England and Greece due to interference."

"If we leave France alone to find the source of the magical involvement in the recent trend of extremists' actions, we won't have enough time to prepare ourselves. We received information that their ministry is already stretched thin keeping their country running while coordinating efforts with the muggle government." Ron retorts sharply.

" _Oh Merlin, I'm really going to face four of them today…"_ Kingsley's thoughts tell him, as he responds by slamming his fist on the table. "I will not risk war on our shores. I understand it completely, but I cannot condone any action of the way you're recommending. If the ICW hears this, all of us will be burning in magma."

"The ICW is underestimating the problem already. They've only sent two people to handle the mess. Two!" Harry roars, still in disbelief at Kingsley sounding like some two bit politician clinging on to power.

Kingsley stands up from his chair and Harry follows suit, both fixing their glares at each other. The tension is almost tangible with hints of magic echoing on Harry's left wand holdster. Hermione keeps Ron on the chair while Luna gets up and goes between the two of them.

Luna turns to Harry with her dreamy stare and it changes to her serious self. "Stand down Love. The third wand is already radiating nargles." A moment later, she changes her focus to Kingsley and then asks, "Officially you can't, but what about unofficially? Don't give me lies that there aren't any of those, Minister. Fudge used it to kill Barty Crouch Jr. on a whim."

Kingsley sits down again, grateful for Luna splashing cold water in what could have been a horrible fight in his office. Harry closes his eyes and whispers, "I'm sorry Kingsley."

The Minister nods in acceptance and wait for everything to settle down before speaking. "I won't ask for unbreakable vows because Veritaserum has a nasty tendency to kill people by making them reveal the secrets bound by that. There is one thing I could do, but being considered stateless and condemned as rogue agents is something you have to consider."

Kingsley pauses and then inquires, "Does Ginny and Neville know of what you're going to do?"

"We can't involve them. Hannah made me promise to never involve them in Auror work after he settled down as the Herbology Professor." Harry replies with disappointment in his voice.

Hermione then adds, "And after the fall out between her and the Potters, she is civil but won't ever go back to fighting wars with us. I honestly didn't want to fight either, but this is the right thing to do, fending off the threat away from our lands and perhaps, for good.

"Alright, I'll have to put all four of you under the Avalon protocol. Starting today, Harry and Hermione will be under unpaid vacation leaves and if you cause an international incident, I will officially disavow your actions saying you are rogue agents. From there, every nation would be after you, I'm sorry."

Ron shakes his head at Kingsley and remarks, "At least do some of the recommendations we've put in. I think it's time to go."

Hermione stands and wraps her arms around Kingsley and jokes, "We'll make sure Europe is not burning when we're done."

Luna follows Ron and Hermione out with Harry the last one to go. "Harry, I trust you. Please don't give me a reason to hunt you down."

Harry smiles sadly and replies, "I can't make guarantees Kingsley. But I'll do whatever I can to keep the people I care about safe."

The door closes and Kingsley summons a glass and his 20-year-old Scottish whiskey. "One of these days, I'm really going to give up this post and take a vacation in Majorica."

In the midst of the ongoing visit by the Potters and one of the Weasley couples, an impeccably dressed man of early thirties begins to write a quick note in his office at the Department of Magical Transportation. He brushes off a few stray strands of blonde hair from his forehead and folds the missive and taps a small circle on the paper with his wand before it blanks out once more.

"Nothing out of the ordinary so far from those people at least. Typical social call and perhaps an after action report from their short stint in that mission on the ICW." The man said, hiding the small piece of charmed paper on the top drawer of his desk.

He looks at the mirror on the wall to his right and straightens out his hair. His brown eyes take a good look at himself and smile contentedly at the Field officer position he was promoted to as of two days ago, all because of his constant information to a group based in France and operating in Greece, Turkey and Iraq. He fixes his name plate and cleans it with his wand. It reads:

_Zacharias Smith_

_Field officer_

Department of Magical Transport

"That will show that old codger for a father that I can play the subtle game of getting ahead of others." Zach mutters darkly to himself and leaves his table for lunch.

In a hotel room somewhere in the province of Champagne, a man feels a buzz from one of his little known creations he fondly calls his 'Quick-draw notes'. He fixes his mussed up hair a bit by brushing it up and he views the vineyards outside, illuminated by the waning cresent moon. His strong features and rich playboy persona keeps his runemaster status in the shadows except to his most loyal of customers.

"After all, I love the attention and prefer the profits to fund my view of a better world. Some people want to be respected, others want to be feared. So why can't I be both." He tells himself before rejoining his voluptuous bedwarmer for the night, a lively British freckled red head from the Holyhead Harpies by the name of Ginerva Weasley.


	5. Chapter 5

November 6, 2015

Diagon Alley from before the war and twenty years after is a lesson of contrasts. Gone are the days of wobbly looking shops amidst the cobblestone floors and the near claustrophobia from passing through Diagon Alley before the second wizarding war. These days, the buildings match the bustling metropolis of London. Solid modern architecture of concrete, glass and steel dominate the still magically hidden side of London. Only Gringotts bank retains the structurally unsound façade of Greco-Roman architecture from yesteryear.

Facing the bank is a new three building and headquarters of the Wizarding Times. The printing press works through the ground floor, the staffers on the second and the top floor is where Marguerite -Blakeney, and her multi-millionaire squib husband, SirPercy Blakeney.

They watch over the people passing by the streets in relative silence, only broken when Percy feels the need to straighten his coat.

"Are you sure we won't need to tell the League of the Scarlet Pimpernel about magic?" Marguerite asks with her eyebrows furrowing in frustration. "Armand would be pissed off at you at the very least, since we're all keeping your secret identity secret while helping you with all these rescue missions."

"We do have the International Statute of Secrecy for a good reason, Marguerite. Still, we can't discount the findings we have from our initial forays into rescuing Yazidis women from their slavery." Percy replies, showing the gloves with the Sanskrit word for wizard that barely glow in his hands. "We need to find out who supplies these things to the ISIS and hopefully put a stop to it."

"I know Percy. I'm trying to look into my contacts in France for more details into it at the moment, but I am getting this symbol from the leather on the wrist part of the gloves." Marguerite replies, taking a piece of paper and draws a rectangle with a red _Algiz_ rune inside.

Percy pauses to remember and a moment later mutters, "Algiz Warding and Research Industries. They're one of the largest players in the industry of warding properties of the rich and famous. They were also responsible for keeping the muggles out of the Patagonian Desert during the 2014 Quidditch World Cup. How the devil did they get involved in this mess?"

"I want to know that too, Percy." Marguerite puts down the writing implements and pulls her husband closer to a beautifully lit city of London. "But we'll have time for that later. How are the rescues?"

"I've actually helped with recon missions in and out since the invisibility cloak helps me move about. I still shudder at the thought of those who've given up hope already and ended it. Those monsters that keep them holed up like that…" Percy loses his composure a bit and shivers from the coffee he drank twenty minutes ago. _'I hate caffeine.'_ He tells himself, annoyed at constant shaking of his hands and to which Marguerite chuckles.

"Cut back on coffee next time." Marguerite remarks, "Still, at least we've rescued a fair number of people these past few weeks. We'll have more if this next mission is successful."

Percy merely shakes his head at this and begins to examine the logo more. "They either have a middle man or they're getting it from the source. That much I can ascertain from the rune. These things can't be stolen because it had the thief's curse before, but I had it removed by George Weasley."

Marguerite only shakes her head at Percy for a moment and she whispers, "We can only do so much. The Wizarding Times helps keep everyone on their toes, but I'll be helping in gathering more information on the supplier. The Delacours asked for help."

"Stay safe always, Love."

"You know me, constant vigilance."

Percy gives his wife a kiss before donning his scarlet mask, coat and hat as the Scarlet Pimpernel once more, and then disappears into the night.

_Paris_

_Enjolras Residence_

A small friendly but quirky ritual happens every first Saturday of the month inside the assigned homes of the unlucky host. This time around, to Eponine's dismay, they lucked out in hosting Ramen Night at their house in _Rue Dupin_. Of course, since Eponine is pregnant and Auguste is still in his shift, buying duties ends up being Bahorel's job after losing the game of exploding snap.

"Next time, we're doing this the muggle way with hot water and those plastic packets." Bahorel complains, carrying flour, eggs, pork and chicken bones, pig head, fillets of pork belly, cilantro, ginger, soy sauce, baking soda, spring onions, spinach and _narutomaki_.

Opening the door in front of him, he shouts, "I'm back guys!"

Joly and Feuilly help him with the bags, as Marius, Euphrasie, Jehan and Azelma watch _Tampopo_ on Courfeyrac's laptop in the living room.

"Put those knives back where you summoned them or I will have to hurt you, Gavroche." Eponine calmly threatens, as Combeferre and Joly set up the kitchen counter for the ingredients.

Gavorche flicks his wand and all the knives gracefully go back to their respective places. "Oh look! Bahorel brings in a new guest!" He exclaims, grabbing the pig head and starts to float it around while Gabrielle Delacour giggles in the background.

"This little piggy went to the market… Wait? Why am I floating? Oink!" Gav mimics the sound of a snorting pig and flies it towards the unsuspecting Grantaire.

"Can I have a moment of your time, _Monsieur_? I seem to have lost something."

Grantaire turns around to see the source of the voice and then he squeals like a little girl out of shock. His eyes lock on Gavroche as the laughter around them begins and chases him around the house while firing hexes.

As the ruckus is happening around them, Gabrielle goes beside Eponine and asks, "Is it really this crazy during Ramen Night?"

"It's as lively as can be. Last month, Euphrasie got caught in the middle of a food fight when a stray pack of cold cooked noodles hit her in the face just as she arrived. Bahorel and Grantaire ended up stuck on the ceiling with a sticking charm for a fortnight." Eponine replies with a soft smile on her face.

"Watch your hexes Grantaire! It almost hit the laptop!" Jehan shouts as a tickling jinx nearly hits the Ming vase from the Taiwan embassy.

As the running around continues, Joly and Eponine place the bones and pig head in water with some crushed ginger and keep watch in removing the scum off.

Combeferre and Gabrielle mix the flour, water, baking soda and salt inside a bowl while it stirs around to combine the ingredients together to make dough. Since both of them aren't dab hands at baking, they end up with flour all over their arms and cheeks.

And lastly, Bahorel is chopping the cilandro, spring onions and _narutomaki_ , while simmering the pork belly in soy sauce.

Grantaire finally catches Gav and disarms him before tying him up and turning his clothes polka dot yellow on purple, complete with a red nose and a jester hat. "This little piggy hops off to town and joins the circus as a clown." He quips and earns him a round of laughter at the younger Thenadier's predicament and Gavroche's glare. "That ought to teach you."

Gabrielle finishes the prank with a kiss on Gav's cheek then powders him with flour. " _Je t'aime monsieur le clown._ "

Gav smirks coyly and shakes his head at Gabrielle's antics.

Meanwhile, Combeferre makes the noodles in mid air, Eponine and Joly remove the bones and head from the broth, and Bahorel rush boils the eggs and spinach to make it in time for Auguste's arrival in about ten or so minutes.

Not a minute too soon, he apparates to the door and is greeted by the gang in various states of mess from the kitchen crew, waving hands from the couch potatoes that suddenly cringe while watching _Tampopo_ after seeing the egg kiss, and a grumpy tied up clown Gavroche.

"Now that's an interesting story to tell, Eponine." Auguste remarks while pointing at her younger brother.

"I'll tell you all about it during the meal." Eponine quips, kissing her husband softly on the lips. The butterflies still flutter in her stomach as a faint blush paints her cheeks, amidst the catcalls and a joke from Azelma saying, "Get a room already."

Eponine shakes her head at the attention and retorts with the words, "Grow up." She suddenly feels her baby kick on her tummy once more and adds, "They're being crazy aren't they Ian?"

"Dinner time!" Bahorel shouts while Marius, Azelma, Euphrasie and Jehan set up the dining table by expanding it and making copies of the chairs to fit them all. Marius finishes the work by summoning the bowls, chopsticks and forks, while Gabrielle flicks her wand rapidly at the incoming diningware to arrange it perfectly. Satisfied with her work, she gestures for everyone to sit down and the Ramen is served in front of them after a well placed _Piertotum Locomotor_ from Auguste.

Halfway through dinner, a dark brown northern hawk owl flies through the living room window and neatly drops a letter in between the space of Auguste and Eponine, then flies off.

Eponine's eyes narrow once she recognizes the handwriting from the envelope, and Enjolras reads the letter for a minute before closing it and tossing it aside. To their eternal shock, Auguste lifts the half-filled Ramen bowl and slurps all of it loudly, noodles, broth and all.

"Woah! Slow down Chief! You'll choke!" Feuilly blurts out while everyone else besides Eponine watches the display with shock on their faces.

"That was good ramen…" Auguste states before being cut off by Eponine.

"Sit down. We'll discuss this like citizens and not barbarians." Eponine remarks, daintily slurping her bowl of Ramen before putting it down and standing up.

"Follow me, we'll have time to reheat the ramen on our bowls." Turning her attention to her husband, she asks, "What did he want now?"

"He was just passing information. The Ottomans are now supplied to the gills with basilisks." Auguste replies, as they all stop in front of a cabinet. "Before I open this, whatever you see inside is completely classified and would all get us imprisoned in _Fort de Tournoux_ and they would banish away the key."

"We all have families and I'll leave you to decide in three days if you want in or not. Same goes to you Gabrielle." Eponine adds, and sees nods of assent from the Amis.

She opens the doors of the large oak two door cabinet and exclaims, "Welcome to the Privy Council."

"Wait, I thought we decided to call this the War Room."

"Don't be silly, you're going on the field." Eponine gives Auguste a meaning ful look before he gives her a soft kiss on the lips.

"Alright, the Privy council it is." He relents, leading everyone inside and closing the door behind him.

Inside the cabinet is a spacious room with a round table and a hologram of a globe floating in the middle. To one side of the room are several dragonhide cloaks and boots, and on the other side it is a well stocked potions lab. The supplies room is opposite to the entrance.

"How the devil did you get this well stocked? Even the Department of Mysteries and the Auror supply room aren't this equipped." Marius inquires with his mouth agape and in awe of this futuristic room.

"Huginn and Muninn brought everything in and Odin himself gave the go signal." Auguste cryptically replies.

Only Euphrasie, Marius and Azelma understand the statement and shake their heads in disbelief. "Only you and Eponine, only you two would be crazy enough to pull something like this." Azelma remarks.

"Now that you've seen it, let's get back to the Ramen." Eponine suggests, spotting Gavroche without the enchantments anymore, but still has flour on his cheeks. She then adds, "One last thing, as you can see with my idiot baby brother, we have safety precautions here and if you aren't allowed inside by either me or Auguste, you might as well sign your last will and testament."

With that, they get back to the Ramen and a couple of whoopee cushions go off at Bahorel, Grantaire and Feuilly's seats. "Gavroche!"


	6. Chapter 6

November 7, 2015

The ICW operations center experiences a soft lull in the night after the latest wave of rescued magical refugees. Harun ponders on his life while staring at the barely lit sea, smoking his _hookah_. _"I have my life all set now at fifty. That crazy but brilliant old man found me selling croakoa in Istanbul forty years ago on this same day and now I'm a successful business man. How ironic because to get where I am, I had to go through hell."_ He tells himself, staring at the large scar on his right arm.

"Got time?" Mikhail asks, summoning a chair beside Harun and picking up the extra pipe on the _hookah._

"And stories Mikhail," Harun replies with a soft smile on his lips and begins to relay the fall from grace in his life.

_Istanbul 1981_

The sun shines down upon a house amongst the thousands beside it. Nothing seems to be beyond the ordinary in the Benayoun household, but to a young bright-eyed boy of 10, the world as he knows it ends abruptly.

His fall from grace starts when his father sees him float a doll in front of his baby sister with only his fingertips guiding it along. "There you go, Junah. Jabirah is going to give you a hug."

The baby girl sends out gurgling laughter at her brother's antics and Harun smiles fondly at his sister. As they play, a shadow falls upon the two siblings and Harun turns around.

His smile turns to a grin as he sees his father. "See what I can do father! Jabirah is flying!" He lets out and a moment after, his father holds him by his shoulders harshly and tosses him on the other side of the room. While this is happening, Junah wails and does not comprehend the events happening around her.

"Father, why!" Harun manages to let out before being flung to another side of the room. He hits the wall and stars begin to appear for him. Holding his arms protectively, he sees his mother come out of the room and begin to ask why his father is beating him up. They begin to get into a heated discussion, as Harun clutches at his back and crawls to the nearby corner with a cushion.

After the argument, he sees his mother's face turn from worry to anger. She drags Harun to an empty room upstairs and says the words, "Pray to _Allah_ and repent for your sin."

"What sin have I committed?" He asks, looking at his mother in the eyes. His father appears behind her and responds, " _Sahir_. You have done sorcery. You are no son of mine."

His parents forcefully close the door and lock it. Harun begins to look around and sees that there is only one small window, higher than what his body can reach at the moment.

"I'm doing something _haram_?" He asks himself, confusion sowing into his consciousness. He begins to remember the times he has floated toys to entertain his sister Junah and the various incidents in his life, such as charming his toy car to run around him or the plant he didn't want to die that's still growing lemons for his mother. "But, it comes from within me." He mutters in disbelief.

Taking a prayer mat from the corner of the room, he positions himself to face Mecca and prays solemnly, wondering all the while why floating things around was forbidden.

For three days, he is confined to his room and served pieces of flatbread, dates fruit and water. On fourth day, his father and mother open the door and see him pray, but still floating.

His father flies into a rage, taking the glass plate on the floor and hits Harun with it repeatedly. As it breaks off, a large gash on his face is inflicted and another on his right arm.

Harun doesn't feel the pain but sees the bleeding and his passes out from shock, just as his mother manages to pull his father out of the room, disappointment, anger, grief and hopelessness evident on their eyes.

He awakens on night time and his wounds are sealed up but showing signs of leaving deep scars. Seeing a pen and some paper after searching, he brushes aside the debris from the earlier scuffle and the begins to write.

_Father and Mother_

_I'm sorry for doing magic. I tried very hard to refuse it, but it really is a part of me. Whenever I float a toy to Junah, I feel my chest warm up and my fingertips tingle._

_These wounds you've given I will never forget, but I forgive you. Please take care of Junah for me._

_Harun_

He leaves the note on the floor and quivers from the blood still on the floor. A fresh set of tears flow on his face, not understanding the vehement hatred his parents have for the magic within him. The pain from the previous incident still throb, but he knows he must go when he saw the twinkle of his parents' eyes for him disappeared that day.

He focuses on the small window on top and wills himself to fly towards it. His chest warms up as he floats towards it. Grasping a hold, he pulls himself up and climbs down to escape with nothing but the shirt on his back.

"And that's how I left my parents' home." Harun tells Mikhail, taking a long puff of tobacco from the pipe. For the duration of his story telling, the Arab doesn't look at Mikhail, content only at looking at the dark sea ahead.

"Did you ever get to see Junah again?" Mikhail softly whispers.

Harun looks at his companion and Mikhail can see the haunted look from Harun's eyes. "She was magical too and left home ten years later. I haven't seen her since. I tried to find her, but I failed."

"I'm sorry."

"Nothing to be sorry about, the past has gone by and here I am helping you guys by being your interpreter. I don't regret running away. If I didn't run away 34 years ago, I would not be here." Harun finishes the discussion and does his best at shaking away the feeling of longing for accepting parents.

"But you wouldn't object telling us about meeting Albus Dumbledore?" Katherine pipes in by the door way to their magically enlarged balcony. She pulls in another chair and leans back to gaze at the stars amidst the occasional cloud or two. To Mikhail's relief, when Harun's smoke is about to come near Katherine, an Egyptian wind rune blows the smoke away from her. "I don't mind company, but I won't let my asthma make me miss this story."

Harun laughs it off and adds, "You two kids. Alright, but if you call me grandpa Harun, I will have to hurt you."

_Istanbul 1984_

A scarred fifteen year old boy sets up his street 'shop' on the one of the many sidewalks of the Bazaar of Magic beside the Sultan Ahmed Mosque. He wears a small necklace with a small _Nazar Boncugu_ attached on it for good luck. _'So far, so good'_ he thought, smiling at the newest product he's going to sell today.

A few days before, a Brazilian wizard and his little boy walks around into the bazaar without realizing that it isn't a short cut to the Mosque. Harun spots the two, just as five street thieves were about to take the wizard's child away from him to ransom. He summons a crate of bananas and catches two of the thieves unawares. He then gets close enough to knocking one out with a punch to the jaw, while the wizard stuns one more. The remaining one tosses a dagger at the wizard and Harun manages to catch it with his magic just an inch away from the wizard's head. With the loss, four of the thieves scamper off, realizing it was Harun Benayoun they were up against.

" _Shukran_ , you have saved my life." The wizard remarks while shaking Harun's hand with relief in his eyes. His son wraps his arms around Harun's leg and keeps on saying his thanks as well. "I owe you a wizards' debt, young man. What is your name?"

"I am Harun Benayoun, a humble street urchin with only little control over his magic." Harun replies. His eyes depict sorrow and envy upon seeing the wand on the wizard's hand.

"I am Eduardo Sandoval from Brazil." Eduardo says, taking a small bar from his bag and gives it to Harun. "It is magical chocolate from my home. It is made with cocoa from home and I was about to bring home seeds of a plant recently discovered from the Amazon rain forest after our stop in the Philippines. Here, have a piece." Grabbing a larger object from his bag, it is a couple pieces of large brown beans but hops around. "I actually call it _croakoa_. I want you to have some and perhaps it will bring you fortune."

Placing his hand on Harun's shoulder, he looks intently at him and beams at him, "Your heart is in the right place, for whatever hardships you may have experienced. Never lose that heart and you will go far."

Holding his son's hand, he gives Harun a piece of paper with this name and address on it. "Let me know when you need my help," and with that the two apparate away.

He places his _croakoa_ inside a jar and puts it on a small rug along with quills and inks, which serves as his store and bed.

Meanwhile, a wizard with long flowing blue robes and long white beard pass by the alleyways while taking in the scenery of the magical side of Istanbul. The thieves stay clear of him, feeling the powerful waves of magic emanating from the frail looking wizard.

Albus Dumbledore hums a ditty from the Irish drinking song "All for me grog" while being a cheerful traveler taking a vacation after a long school year. His eyes skip Harun initially, but he suddenly goes back, seeing the hopping cocoa seeds from his wares.

Briskly walking, he makes himself appear non-threatening as possible and stops at the young Arab man.

"How much are you selling those hopping cocoa beans?" Albus asks with fascination for his wares.

"Around a galleon each, I think." Harun replies. He furrows his eyebrows and shakes his head at the wizard in front of him.

"I think that's too low, young man. I'll be giving you a hundred if you can tell me where you got this since a friend of mine back in Scotland makes chocolates."

"Well, I did get it after helping a Brazillian wizard out from being mugged here in Bazaar of Magic." Harun replies while being amused and annoyed with the barmy-looking wizard in front of him.

"Alright, here are the galleons I promised you and one more for one bean." Albus chimes in, paying for the bean and earning a look of awe from Harun.

"You're really serious about it."

"Why shouldn't I be? I prefer to go with rewarding people who work hard for a living." Dumbledore ponders on Harun's words for a moment and then continues, "Will you be here tomorrow?"

Harun shrugs, "I guess. I live here in the streets and make an honest day's living as a wizard."

"I see. My name is Wulfric Dumbledore and I hope to see you here tomorrow." Albus offers his hand and firmly shakes Harun's hand before apparating away.

From that chance meeting, Harun's fortunes change a day later, meeting Ambrosius Flume and connecting them to Eduardo Sandoval and croakoa plants. He becomes the middle man and supplier of the hopping cocoa bean which created the world renowned Chocolate Frogs.

"And he really was humming that ditty of all things? I never realized that Dumbledore likes to drink too." Katherine remarks after Harun finishes with his story.

"I would too if my brother ran a pub with good food and really good liquor." Mikhail quips in amusement of the story.

"I miss him though because he would have helped us out. He was a great man even with all his faults." Harun remarks longingly for his old friend.

A red light blinks from inside and Mikhail curses, "Not another one so late in the evening. We have to get the refugees."

Harun stands up and says, "Let me help then to lighten your load. I'm tired of standing around and waiting for those blubbering codgers bicker to eternity."

Katherine debates the thought for a moment before tossing him the portkey and responds, "Then let's go. The portkey is only to be used when you have refugees with you to take us back here or for emergency escapes."

Harun nods in acceptance and they apparate away to help the refugees get to safety.


	7. Chapter 7

_November 8, 2015_

_The Burrow_

The morning light shines upon the window of one Hugo Weasley. As he slowly wakes up, he sees Hermione and Ron packing up some clothes and vials into a battered old school trunk. Rubbing his eyes, he sits up and asks, "Mum? Dad? What are you doing?"

Ron slowly turns his head towards his recently awoken son and explains, "Um Hugo, we're just getting started on stuff for your trip to Australia, while your mum and I handle something for the Wheezes."

Nine year old Hugo nods in acceptance, or at least was about to, until he saw that it was only his parents items currently packed. His eyes narrow to think about the things he's seeing at the moment. He spots an ordinary brown envelope on the nearby desk and was about to disregard it, until he sees the ministry seal. He's only manages to see those when he and Rose were younger and his parents both worked from the Department of Magical Law Enforcement.

Hugo straightens up and looks at his mom, remarking, "You're both going to do something dangerous again."

Hermione curses inwardly for having such a perceptive child with Ron's tactless mouth. She bites her lip and then composes her answer. She walks towards him, while Ron's face becomes redder from being caught beneath the half-truth. Kneeling in front of her son, who's still in bed, she explains, "Yes Hugo, your father and I are going to do help some people like the time we went to Greece for three weeks." She nibbles her lower lip gently, "I'd like you to be with my parents in Australia for a while since you did say you wanted to see the Australian Outback and some kangaroos. We're just moving the time table a bit by half a month."

She wraps her arms around her son, embracing him tightly and whispers, "I promise we'll be alright. We're doing this for you." Removing herself from the hug, she holds out her right pinkie and says, "Pinkie swear?"

"As long as you'll let me know you two are alright from time to time." Hugo bargains with a soft smile on his lips. They close up the promise and Hugo gets up from the bed.

"Go down to the table, I bet your Nana Weasley would love to make some pancakes for you for breakfast." Hermione suggests, to which Hugo grins and runs down from Ron's room which they all share for the night.

"You really are brilliant." Ron states, hugging Hermione from behind before adding, "But Hugo is too brilliant for his own good."

"However he has your speak before you think attitude, which will probably give him a bit of grief a few times in Hogwarts." Hermione retorts, smirking playfully with her husband whom she gives a peck on his lips before moving herself out of the embrace and shrinks the supply trunk they'll bring along.

"Well, you did leave that envelope lying around, Mione." Ron quips with a smile of his own, summoning some of Hugo's clothes to prepare for their quick trip to Australia.

Hermione folds the summoned clothes midflight before placing them into Hugo's royal blue travel luggage. After ten minutes, it's all set and done with Ron zipping up the luggage bag.

"I hope we can keep Hugo and Rose have a peaceful life and worry about the people they fancy or grades instead of their lives." Hermione remarks with a sigh leaving her lips.

"That's why we're helping Bill's in-laws with the spot of trouble they're having before it reaches England." Ron muses. They enjoy the quiet and beauty of the chilly but vibrantly green English countryside for a minute or so. Unsurprisingly, it's interrupted by Ron's grumbling stomach.

Hermione covers her giggles with her mouth at Ron's blushing, before shaking her head and saying, "Let's go down and get your breakfast as well. I don't want you going grumpy during our trip. Hopefully Ginny will wake up soon before we leave for Australia. She did have a tiring match for the Harpies after their win yesterday against the Quiberon Quafflepunchers."

With that, the Weasley couple goes downstairs to join Hugo for breakfast. Ginny comes down as well a minute after, looking worn but cheerful at the hearty breakfast they all have.

Meanwhile in the new Potter residence just on the other side of Otter St. Catchpole, Luna does the finishing touches to Lily's luggage bag by adding stickers of unicorns and rainbows, to Harry's amused exasperation.

"Luna love, Lily's halfway through her eggs, toast and bacon already and you haven't started to eat. We have a long trip." Harry remarks with a grin on his lips at Luna's antics.

"Finally I'm finished!" Luna exclaims after pressing down on the last unicorn sticker by the luggage handle. She holds her husband's hand and drags him along with her downstairs to join Lily.

"Mum, are you done with my bag?" Lily asks and tilts her head to the right at her mother. Luna nods at Lily and sits down with her daughter for breakfast.

Harry brings in the strawberry jam and pancakes while Luna summons the spare gravy she has on a tupperware.

Lily stops eating and Harry pauses as they watch Luna place strawberry jam, crispy bacon and gravy in between two pieces of pancake. She gives them a meaningful look and a shrug before taking a big bite of the odd combination. Lily shakes her head and rushes to finish her meal. Harry on the other hand chuckles at his wife's antics and tries it as well, gravy staining his hands.

"Surprisingly good," Harry exclaims and takes another bite. Luna of course finds a way to one up anyone on the quirky gourmet and remarks, "Of course, I think I'll have to add in some fish and chips to add more texture and some chocolate syrup."

Harry closes his eyes and takes a deep breath as he removes the visual from his mind. Finishing his 'meal', he takes a peek at the wall clock and remarks, "We still have thirty minutes before we meet the Weasleys here."

Harry and Lily quickly make their obvious exit with Luna's hearty laughter trailing behind them. The moving doodle dragons, snorkacks, and quidditch players accompany Luna as she finishes her sandwich and clears up the table.

_Brisbane, Australia_

_Granger Vacation Residence_

Hermione runs to her parents and gives them a warm hug. "I missed you mum. I missed you dad."

Rupert Granger, a fit brown-haired man ruffles Hermione's hair and gives Hermione a good look in the eye, before remarking, "I missed you too, little Matilda." As Hermione was about to retort, her father cuts her off and adds, "you'll always be my little Matilda even if you have grandchildren. We'll talk later."

Emma Granger on the other hand, regales their latest outback adventure doing shark cage diving to the amazement of Ron, Hugo, Harry, Luna and Lily. "And just as I turned around, this eighteen foot great white shark obliges me with opening its jaws for a bite, but thankful doesn't get in and quits after one try. I felt I gained a few more grey hairs on my head." She even accompanies her story telling with hand gestures.

"Anyway, I know you had a long journey so let's all get the kids' bags into their rooms." Turning her attention to Hermione, "I'm actually still in awe that you've gotten here in just two hours since you've called us up, Hermione. It's a brilliant thing definitely, magic."

"It does have its limits, but I'm not complaining, mum. I love visiting you guys more often instead of being stuck in a plane for more than half a day." Hermione smiles at seeing Ron give her dad a challenge every time they meet by the chessboard. So far, Ron has the advantage with 305 wins to her father's 295 wins after 600 matches over the years.

"That you do. So, seeing as you said you'll be visiting more often, how do you plan on doing that?" Emma asks, as Hermione leads her to the attic.

" _Scourgify!_ " Hermione casts and cleans the dust and grime from the area. After she's satisfied with it, she takes a tent out of the bag and shows her mother inside. Besides a few bunks, a coffee table and a chair, there is an old oak cabinet inside.

"Remember how magicians used to have these vanishing cabinets in their acts? Those were actually actual wizards giving a show until they got a reprimand from the International Confederation of Wizards and stopped. Normals then used optical illusions to replicate the vanishing cabinets." Hermione explains, showing the inside of the empty cabinet, "Ron, Harry, Luna and I will be coming out through here from time to time so we can check up on Hugo and Lily."

"It's definitely a good idea there. Your dad and I figured that you will go on one of your adventures last week." Emma shakes her head in amusement of Hermione's shocked expression, "You always fidget when you're doing something you don't want us to know. We did allow you to memory charm us as the Wilkins, Hermione."

She stares longingly at Hermione for a moment and remarks, "You've been a great daughter, Hermione. Never stop fighting for the oppressed and the unjustly treated." Mrs. Granger hugs Hermione tightly, keeping the tears of worry from falling. "Just be careful, alright?"

Hermione holds her mother closer and she whispers, "I will do my best. I have Ron with me, I have nothing to fear."

After that moment, they go back down and Hermione subtly wards the door of the cabinet and the attic so only the four of them could get past them without any problems.

"How's the chess game?" Hermione asks, seeing Ron grasping his head while Lily and Hugo stand beside Rupert.

"I'm being beaten by two chess prodigies along with dad. It's three on one, no fair." Ron replies, as her father chimes in, "All is far in love and war, Ronald Weasley. Chess is warfare after all."

Harry and Luna chuckle at Rupert's words and Hugo exclaims "Checkmate!" as Rupert's queen smashes the king upside the head and gives it a piledriver.

"Got to love these wizard chess pieces, eh Hermione?" Her father remarks, standing up and gestures Lily to take the board.

"Luna and Harry, you wouldn't mind helping my wife in the kitchen for a while? I think Hugo and Lily can handle Ron in the chessboard for now." Rupert suggests, to which Harry replies, "glad to be able to help, Mr. Granger."

"None of that Harry, I told you that you can call me dad when these two got married. You've been a brother to my only child for years." Rupert responds and they both nod at each other before the Potters sans Lily helped out in the kitchen.

As they walked towards the front yard of the house, Rupert grabs a wooden box the size of a large book from the coffee table.

"Where will you be taking the kids?" Hermione asks, enjoying the warmer weather of Australia.

"First, we'll be going to Streets beach by tomorrow for a swim. I bet getting them a bit tanned would do wonders for them. After that, we'll be exploring the South Bank Parklands for a couple of days. I'll probably want them to see a museum and a library as well." Mr. Granger replies, enjoying the view of the afternoon at their summer home. He still fondly reminisces the times he was Wendell Wilkins.

After standing around a bit, Rupert and Hermione decide to sit at a bench in the front porch. He then hands her the box he grabbed a few minutes before.

Hermione tentatively tests the weight and finds it as heavy as her older tomes. "What's this dad?"

"Your mother and I know you're headed to one of your adventures. I thought it is about time to hand you down something your grandfather passed to me." Mr. Granger replies, then watches Hermione open the box.

Inside it is a handgun with a couple of rounds, along with a belt with a holster. "It's a Luger P08 that your grandfather got during the Second World War before they started booby trapping these. It's serviceable because I took care of it. You remember how to use this, right?"

Hermione nods, smiling at the memory of their camping trip at the Forest of Dean during one summer before her second year.

A twelve-year-old Hermione watches her father take out a box in the early afternoon and shows her the gun inside. "My father always taught me that when you take care of your weapon, it will take care of you. I guess it applies to your wand as well." Rupert muses a bit, enjoying the lush greenery of nature around them and the river that flows through it.

"But I've also considered the heart and mind as weapons as well, that's why I honed it to become a dentist so I can help people. Then I met your mom who wanted to help people with their tooth problems too during my studies. And you know what? Because of that, I fully understood what my dad has always been telling me all along. Take care of your weapon, so that it can help you when you need it."

From there, Rupert shows Hermione how to disassemble and reassemble the gun, while discussing what each part does and helps her dad cleans the P08.

"I'm giving this to you, so that in case you don't have your wand, you won't be helpless. It never hurts to have contingencies, Hermione." Rupert explains with a tinge of helplessness in his eyes. They both glance at the faint scar on her right arm with the word 'mudblood'.

Hermione neatly places the gun back in to the box and closes it, setting it aside. "Thank you for looking out for me, dad."

"You're welcome, Hermione."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't own the pancake sandwich idea. It's from Lineape's Evacuation of the Flumpawumps. He/She owns it.


	8. Chapter 8

_November 10, 2015_

_Rue d'Or_

The Parisian morning so far brings a beautiful day for the three companions that are taking a break from their stint in the ICW. The night before manages to drain them after processing ten families and twenty other refugees to be sent to the Greek Ministry of Magic in just a few hours time. The Chinese guy in the group is wearing faded jeans, thick-framed glasses with transition lenses, a light yellow polo shirt and some worn trainers. The _mestiza_ lady with them dons long black frilly skirt that reaches three inches below her knees, black shoes with knee-high socks and a grey shirt with the words 'Viva La Vida!' Last but not least of course, is their impeccably dressed arab companion and designated volunteer freelancer with his charcoal gray suit, polished pointed shoes and a fedora hat.

"You sure they're going to arrive here?" Mikhail questions Katherine while staring at the dog inside the piano.

Katherine notices the glowing rice paper talisman at her companion's fingertips and she replies, "I'm as sure as the fact that the sun will rise from the east during dawn. And yes, I know you're annoyed at the dog signage, but if you destroy that dog. But if you try to destroy it by blowing it up, I'll let you rot in jail and make sure that the compensation for damages will come out of your vault."

Harun interrupts with a cough and remarks, "Best to cut the argument out. You two sound like a bickering old couple."

"Don't make me use this paper talisman on you." Mikhail hisses, cringing slightly at the cup of coffee his female mission partner ordered for him.

The arab merely chuckles and suddenly, a couple sat down with them, both donning Caerphilly Catapults jerseys.

Harun's eyes fix on the woman with a hungry look on his face. The blond woman takes it in stride and casts subtle spells around their table before locking in her occulumency shields.

"What in the devil is going on?" Katherine exclaims, before the man gestures to her to listen first.

"We're Huginn and Muninn. But since the wards will make us seem like we're discussing the latest quidditch match, I'm Louis Delacour," Louis introduces himself and shakes the proffered hand of three people from the ICW. "And this is my beautiful wife and half-veela, Apolline."

Apolline smiles at the three, but it abruptly appears strained at Harun because of her need to control her aura.

"It is a pleasure to meet all of you here in our usual haunt in Rue de la Magie." Apolline remarks, apologetic at the situation they're at.

"I'm Katherine Watson and Mikhail Chung here is my designated partner for this mission." Mikhail nods at Mrs. Delacour. "And of course our noble volunteer, Harun Benayoun," Harun nods politely and tries to distract himself by looking elsewhere.

"By the way, this café's coffee is the best in the city hands down." Katherine complements Apolline, gesturing to her fourth cup being emptied.

"I'm a tea person though. I already miss my Oolong tea." Mikhail grumpily retorts, munching on a croissant with turkey bacon, lettuce and tomatoes in between. Apolline beams at

Louis shakes his head at Mikhail and turns his attention to Harun. " _Assalum Alaikum,Harun._ " Harun smirks in return and replies, " _Alaikum Assalum_ Louis even if I don't follow that religion. I appreciate the gesture though."

After they all manage to settle down a bit, Louis places both his elbows on the table and clasps his hands before saying, "We've received reports that a shipment of weapons has arrived in Paris, somewhere in the 19th arrondissement. Since we're unable to keep complete track of it from point of origin, does the ICW have any way to verify if it came from the Middle East?"

Mikhail sighs and replies, "With the bureaucratic channels as they are right now? No. If you had asked me that question four years before, I'd say yes without a doubt. The ICW about to go into another vote for the Supreme Mugwump and these votes tend to bog down the duties the organization does. Plus the fact that they sent only two people to watch over the entire Aegean sea and rescue magical refugees that come in around a hundred in any given month… There is absolutely no way to confirm."

Apolline takes an item from one of her expandable pockets and a glove with runes could be seen. "We found this from one of the men we captured recently, but we failed to intercept the package."

"How the… What is A.W.R.I., or awry they joke around calling themselves, doing? Don't tell me they're providing rechargeable magical equipment to ISIS?" Mikhail inquires as his face turns serious and pensive.

The Delacour's silence answered everything. Katherine grits her teeth, but loses her composure a minute later, "'Tang ina talaga! Why I ought to take them to court."

"Good luck with that, Algiz has people in its pockets to make them turn the other way. We need to catch them red-handed and not just because they have perfectly above-board transactions in the open market that finds their weapons into terrorist hands."

Mikhail sighs and closes his eyes, squeezing the bridge of his nose just to ease the tension in his head.

Harun merely looks at Louis and ponders his words for a moment. His eyes focus harder on Mr. Delacour and he says, "You have a strike team ready, don't you."

"Of course we'll keep the fight from spreading. They're at our home ground, I'm already insulted. We'll let you know what happens." Louis remarks, before Apolline gestures to her watch and she remarks, "I'm sorry, but we need to be somewhere else for now. Here's my husband's card. He'll be the one who will help coordinate with you."

She smiles apologetically and hands the card to Katherine, after which, they leave and blend into the crowd once more.

"Good luck to them." Mikhail hopes before leading his companions back to the Aegean.

_Later in the evening_

_L'Argonaute, Parc de la Villete_

_19_ _th_ _arrondissement_

Beside the _L'Argonaute_ submarine underneath the Parisian night, Auguste takes a moment to touch a small bandage by his ear. "We're in position Eponine. So far, there is no visual on any deliveries or transactions here. No, we're not going after druggies or thrill seekers for now. Those damn psychedelic drugs makes muggles see through magical wards."

"Stop ranting and stay safe. Jehan says they'll be there in two minutes time. Stay frosty and damn it, stay safe, Auguste." he hears from the so-called Privy Council room inside a cabinet in their house.

"I will and keep watch over these guys with me."

Bahorel, Grantaire, Joly and Jehan shout, "Good luck chief!" as Eponine says, "Get ready."

Marius, Azelma, Cosette, Feuilly, Courfeyrac and Gavroche are with him for this mission and he could see the determination behind the jitters. _'Just like old times in the barricades in Sorbonne.'_ He thought as five men walk by just around 50 meters away from their strike team.

Everyone is hidden by the shadows and inconspicuous to a casual observer.

"Five men, just like Jehan said." Auguste whispers, "Do we have your go signal?"

"Go!" Eponine commands. She clasps her hands waiting for audio updates, while Jehan steadies himself, Bahorel paces, Joly sits beside Eponine and Grantaire transcribes the details they're getting.

On the field, they all get into position and Auguste circles his right index finger in the air for a moment before pointing to the five men.

Stunning spells leap at a blistering pace towards their five targets. Accurate as hell, strike hard and fast the French Auror tactics at its finest.

To their shock, only one falls down to the spell fire while the other four split to two teams. They immediately run around, drawing their pistols and letting loose return fire. Marius tackles Euphrasie to protect her from bullets and ends up hit with two slugs from behind through his dragonhide armor.

Azelma gets scraped by a bullet on the cheek and Gav's thigh gets hit.

Auguste signals immediately to scatter and harass the two groups. Feuilly and Courfeyrac catch the left flank unaware with their zap-around tool. It's a small cylindrical grenade-type weapon that delivers an incapacitating shock to anyone within a 5 meter radius.

Gavroche applies pressure on his wound and rolls around to get away from the whizzing bullets. As one of the two remaining men reload, Azelma furiously flicks her wand and a hardened soil claw comes out, squeezing the target and slamming him to the ground.

Meanwhile in the room, Eponine's hands grow whiter every second she hears gunshots with Joly keeping an eye on her wellbeing and placing a hand on her shoulder. "They'll pull through."

"That's the thing. I'm tired of patching up Auguste every time."She hisses vehemently and breathes a sigh of relief that the gunshots have stopped.

"We've got you surrounded. It's best you surrender now." Auguste demands as most of his team place numbing charms on themselves for the pain and in Gav's case, a makeshift splint to steady the weight on his bleeding leg.

With every wand pointing at the remaining person, the team is confident the mission is over.

A woman's voice replies with a hint of an Arabian accent, "You wish." She taps the faintly glowing yellow runes on her gloves and three grey blurs zoom towards her near instantaneously. The material covers her gloves and torso, as she leaps to the left to dodge the spell fire.

"You've butchered my family and scorched my country for a long time, now you will pay!" She screams, as bursts of light leave her palms and catches Gavroche in the chest, knocking him out and slamming into a tree. Euphrasie and Marius fall next after having their stunners hit and returned back to them threefold.

"Damn it, Gav, Marius and Cosette are knocked out of the fight." Auguste sends his update, dodging another beam of light that missed him by only an inch. The searing smell of ozone filling his nostrils and thanks Huginn and Muninn that the dragonhide manages to take the brunt of the spell. If they didn't have it, it could have been much worse.

Courfeyrac toss another zap-around but it ends up being lightning bolts returning to him after detonating.

Auguste shouts, "Feuilly, I'll hold her back. Get everyone back to HQ."

"Are you out of your mind? Your wife will kill me if you don't get back!" Feuilly retorts, dodging another blast.

"Just do it! We don't have time for this. Go!" Enjolras commands, transfiguring rocks into heavy lead disks to block the beams of magic from finishing his friends.

"Abort the mission, Auguste or I will flay you alive!" Eponine screams, standing up and slamming her palms on the table in their base operations.

Feuilly appears a moment later with the wounded. "I'm going back." He declares, but is stopped by Eponine. "You'll only be a casualty. Help them bring my siblings, Marius, Cosette and Courfeyrac to the sick bay."

In the _Parc de la Villette_ , Enjolras dodges another beam, noticing that the glowing rectangle in his attacker's torso part is draining faster and faster as he moves around.

"Where's your pride now, wand user? Didn't you flay and murder squibs like us for not having magic?" The woman retorts, almost catching Enjolras full on with another burst.

"You must be talking about the English." Auguste retorts, taking another deep breath. _"Got to do more cardio exercises,"_ he tells himself in frustration of his weakening stamina.

Taking another look at the armor, he hisses in frustration that the drain isn't enough for him to safely capture her for more information. Surveying the battleground, he sees plenty of pockmarks on the grass, but is thankful for the muggle repelling ward they placed before the operation and the limited range of the bursts.

Another burst nearly hits him in the head and he decides to take a stand and slug it out instead.

Briskly walking, he sizes up his opponent and decides to go to the transfiguration route of attack. Darts fly towards his attacker and one manages to stab her leg after she disintegrates the most of it.

He rushes in closer, gliding around the field, and conjuring blades or animals at the extremist in front of him. A few moments more and he's close enough to disable her with his right hook.

A rapier grazes her chin, while obliterating the lion that was in the leaping at her. A couple more darts hits her left shoulder, arm and leg. She places her injured side behind her back and continues to fire bursts with her right hand.

As Enjolras manages to get near and puts his strength into a right hook, he smirks. He remembers the praise Headmistress Maxime gave him when he won the dueling competition for seven years in a row for the Richelieu house. "It's your head that keeps you alive. Keep alert when you become an auror and good job."

The split second reminiscing costs him as the woman shifts her head to the left and away from his fist. A moment more and he catches a white beam of light to his torso, which flings him away and vaporizes his dragonhide vest.

Enjolras lands on the ground with a thud and he barely keeps his consciousness. He hears footsteps and finds himself face to face with his attacker.

"How does it feel to be defeated by a squib, Auguste Enjolras?" The woman mocks, stepping on his bloodied torso with her left boot. "No matter, you shall meet your end and we shall see your beloved France burn for all its sins against my people."

An iron ball slams into her head, just as she was about to launch the magical orb at his prone body.

Just before he fades into unconsciousness, he sees a pair of green eyes behind glasses and another pair of stormy grey. "Nice to see you again, Harry Potter," He mutters before everything fades to black.


	9. Chapter 9

_November 11, 2015_

_Enjolras Residence – Privy Council sick bay_

Auguste opens his eyes and sees white light. His body is aching all over and as he glances down, he sees that his entire torso is covered in bandages and salves.

"Good morning Chief. I'm glad to see you're up." Joly greets him by his bedside and shaking his head at his little stunt. "Ep will kill you later by the way."

"I know. How is everyone?" Enjolras asks, seeing the empty beds around him.

"With just a bit of rest and they'll be alright. We dissolved the bullets from Marius' back and Gav's thigh, healed the scars left by dodged bullets, and Courf's close encounter with lightning could have gotten worse if he didn't have dragon hide." Joly pauses for a bit and tightens up the loose bandage. Auguste winces a bit and then Joly continues, "Combeferre also helped out after his shift at the magical wing of _Hôtel Dieu de Paris_."

"I'm glad to know everyone's alright," Auguste remarks and closes his eyes for a few minutes to nap while Joly inspects the injuries he sustained during the fight.

A few minutes later, one person enters the room after Joly is finished and left the room. Auguste wakes up and sees a puffy-eyed Eponine briskly walking towards him. She caresses his cheek and gives him a soft kiss before giving him a ringing slap that was heard throughout the room. "Don't ever try being some kind of goddamn western cowboy, Auguste Enjolras! I almost gave birth here when I heard the hit on your torso. Do you know how many ribs you broke that Combeferre healed? The second-degree burns I had to treat? The amount of sedatives Joly had to pump into your system just so you won't thrash around in pain?"

Eponine slaps him harder and then sobs into chest. "Ian would have lost a father because you got too caught up in being a hero. I told you to fall back, you didn't listen."

Auguste gingerly wraps his arms around Eponine and whispers, "I couldn't see my friends become casualties and I wanted a better world for Ian."

"I know, but could you stop being so stupid about it. You're too headstrong for your own good, that's why Marius needed to go out of his way in Beauxbatons just so you wouldn't get expelled. You shouldn't have gotten sorted with those cocky bastards in Richelieu."

Enjolras chuckles and retorts, "Just because you had the LeFay house wrapped around your finger does not mean I'll do well in it."

"Idiot. You're making my pregnant hormones come out in full swing." Eponine remarks, expanding the bed a bit and holds Auguste.

While the Enjolras family shares a moment in sickbay, Joly sees Hermione discussing the zap-around grenade with Courfeyrac and Feuilly.

Azelma, Combeferre, Marius and Euphrasie listen to Harry's story of his trip in Paris. Judging by the beet red blush from Euphrasie and laughter from Marius and Azelma, he's probably telling them how bubbly she was when she first saw him and his daughter Lily.

Bahorel, Grantaire, Luna, Gav and Jehan on the other hand inspect the damage caused by their first foray and brainstorm on what could be improved in the hastily done after action report.

"Missions like that would give me nightmares, even if there are no KIAs." A tall and lanky red-haired man reflects, seeing the various groups and activities in front of them. "At least we've delayed their offensive for now. I'm Ron by the way." Ron holds out his right hand and Joly shakes it, introducing himself as well, "I'm Joly and one of the healers. I specialize in the burns, spells, and jinxes section of _Hôtel Dieu_ Hospital."

"It's nice to meet you, my nieces and nephew from Fleur Delacour and my brother Bill have their checkups there whenever they're here for the summer." Ron remarks as Joly nods.

"She's a couple of years ahead of us, Fleur. Gabrielle on the other hand is dating that guy over there." Joly points to Gavroche in the middle table.

"Good luck to him then." Ron hopes, seeing the strength in the people around the room and wishes their first mission hadn't gone so rough. "To be honest, we're lucky we got there in time. We received a raven Patronus from someone that sounds like Fleur and we apparated around to the nearest magical transport point from Harry's brochure to _Parc de la Villete_. We were really far away and saw his success with transfiguration in combat so we did it as well. Harry engorged a ball from his pocket, Luna made it heavy iron, Hermione made it float and I banished it towards that woman named Amina who was about to hit Auror Enjolras. If we had been a second late with our spell work, it would have been…" Ron pauses and shakes the thought out of his head, "So what do you plan with the five captives?"

"We'll get information from the captives later. Minister Du Pont was not happy with the damage this initially simple operation caused." Marius adds in, and quickly shares introductions with Ron. "I'm just glad we delayed them a bit and got that scary add-on rune armor they've got. The department would have gotten nuts over analyzing the armor. No company marks so it's got to be a prototype."

"Let's join them for the after action report then. I hated not having any video uplink on the mission itself. With the Bin Laden assassination, Seal team 6 got better information with someone here in HQ guiding them." Joly suggests and they make their way to join everyone who's now taking part into improving the Privy Council, while their 'Chief' and 'Queen' rest in sick bay.

"I think I have an idea. Holograms," Ron remarks and the discussions go underway.

_November 12, 2015_

_Enjolras Residence – Privy Council Room_

"And there," Courfeyrac remarks and wipes the sweat out of his eyebrows, "I've connected the holo-globe to our bandage communicators and once M. Valjean taps into SPOT 6, we'll have bird's eye view of our fights here in Paris and places around the world. Well, at least anything above ground and not in a building."

The globe changes its appearance and becomes almost like a muggle video call or that scene in Star Wars, Bahorel thought, seeing Apolline and Louis Delacour from the other side. Eponine sits in the middle of the new crescent table and starts ushering in everyone to the hologram.

Two people seated behind a desk appear in front of them.

" _Bonjour, les amis._ I've heard about what happened in the mission…" Louis greets them and notices Eponine's glare at both him and Apolline.

"I told them to pull back," she snaps at the two, "but as you can see, you've selected the finest troops for pigheadedness."

A hand interrupts Louis' well prepared retort and Apolline Delacour stares back at Eponine. "I admit that I, Louis and Du Pont realize the capabilities of our enemies during the first contact. Our methods were effective, but we face terrorists trained in the art of war. Louis broke protocol and we called on our friends from Britain to help and get your husband out of the scuffle."

Auguste brushes his hand on his still tender skin and locks gazes at Harry Potter. "Are you even legal to conduct missions outside," He pauses and slaps his face, "I'm not even surprised anymore. You four are on your own aren't you?"

Harry shakes his head with amusement evident on his lips. Grantaire scowls and gives him a galleon. "Never bet against a Potter, Grantaire."

"What? What did you bet on?" Enjolras looks at his friend quizzically.

"I bet that you wouldn't vocalize the fact that they went into battle inside France and question the legality of it. Heck, I even added in that you would not even hint at it. You lost me a galleon, chief." Grantaire replies with a sigh.

They hear a cough from behind them and Eponine was giving them a death glare for interrupting her discussion with Apolline.

"Now if you citizens and guest would please stop interrupting," Eponine says with irritation flooding from her very tone. Turning her attention back to Louis and Apolline she continues, "So we have a rogue cell from the English Ministry and our ragtag team facing against a group backed by a well-funded corporation to conduct _Jihad_ within our borders."

"You really are the epitome of stating the obvious, Mrs. Enjolras. We have to stop them here in France and stop any attacks on our home soil. If they had been using only their guns and explosives, we would not be as invested. As it is, magical aids combined with muggle wars is already a glaring breach of the Statute of Secrecy." Louis explains while looking at each and every one of the people in that very room.

Apolline taps Louis on the shoulder and shakes her head at him biting commentary. "We need someone to be our eyes and ears for every mission this team takes, while we gather information from the deepest and darkest reaches of the underworld if need be. Someone to coordinate the strength of the team and what happens after we capture the mastermind behind this."

Auguste's eyes widen and Harry's narrow at Apolline's words. Harry closes his eyes for a moment to restrain the snarky and inopportune comments that threaten to leave his lips.

Speaking to Apolline he says, "You seek to bring the person responsible to justice. Voldemort was felled down at wand point and spared us further bloodshed." Harry mutters to the shock of everyone and most especially Luna.

"We have to bring the man to our courts and make sure he pays through true justice." Auguste responds to Harry's remark. "We are citizens and human beings, if we kill the head, someone else will take its place without us knowing who."

Luna clasps Harry's nape and stroke circles around it, in her dreamy tone that rarely shows itself these days, she whispers, "I have seen wars and the price people pay. I know you agree with him, Love."

"Alright," Harry relents, "even if it puts our lives in greater peril, we will capture the one who's behind this. But if our lives are hanging by the thread, I will not hold back and don't expect Ron and Hermione to do so either."

"So will each and every one of my friends." Enjolras declares and they all look back to the two Delacours.

"Thank you and our apologies for taking on this task. My husband and I have been trying for years to keep the problem contained, but someone from our own magical community betrayed us in providing active runes to muggles and non-magical squibs from the disgruntled communities in the 18th, 19th and 20th arrondissements." Apolline apologizes, holding her husband's hand to keep her composure.

"We decided to keep in the shadows for this one to gather more intel. We have the troops and resources, but we need someone to keep the helm together during operations. We already have someone in mind… if she agrees of course." Louis adds, his words aimed at the red-haired woman in front of them and at the middle of the group. "We will provide all the resources we can spare and muster, considering our very ministry is stretched. But we need you to be our eyes and ears during the missions, especially when the field operatives need to know something they haven't spotted. Are you up to being at the helm of operations, Madame Eponine Thenadier-Enjolras?

Everyone's attention focuses on Eponine, as she winces for a moment at Louis' words. She sees everyone, from the Pontmercy, Weasley and Potter couples, as well as the rest of her friends' faces. Auguste cups her chin and stares lovingly into her eyes, as if to say, " _We will not back down from people who threaten to inflict harm on those we love."_

"There is only one woman that I love more than Patria and that is you. I would love it if you would take command here. Besides, this HQ is already called the Privy Council, my queen." Auguste gives Eponine a warm smile, the one that entranced her to him during their days in Beauxbatons, regardless of the rumors and the mudslinging she endured for loving the ringleader of Richelieu house.

Her doubts disappear and she replies in a crisp and firm tone, "I will do it. Now let's get this outfit sorted before the Corsairs succeed." From then, it becomes a collaboration of ideas and a team is formed from the humbling first mission.


	10. Chapter 10

_November 12, 2015_

_The Wizarding Times - Diagon Alley, London_

Just as the council meeting is happening in France, Percy and Marguerite Blakeney meet again in the Wizarding Times office. With a walking cane in his hand, Percy is pensive compared to his usual cover as a rich and foppish squib. "You've heard of what happened in France?"

Marguerite nods and lets out a sigh, "This changes things for everyone, Percy. We're facing an enemy that has both magical and mundane weapons at their disposal. We haven't seen something like this for centuries. The last time this happened is when the England and France were fighting the Hundred Years war. Joan of Arc had help from a few wizards, that's why she was thought a witch and burned at the stake."

"I know, Marguerite. Our last operation was a success but we're seeing more of squibs brainwashed by skewed religious teachings and hardships fighting alongside extremists." Percy's hands shake on the tip of the cane and he bites his lip. "The captured Yazidis women will probably be the stuff of my nightmares and my boggart from now on. Those," he pauses to compose himself and to prevent tears from flowing out, "monsters have created a loophole in the verses of the Koran and turned women into chattel."

He takes a deep breath and looks up to the stars, the charmed window glass clearing up the clouds and light pollution of London so they can see the countless dots of light sprinkling the night sky. "I've walked in both worlds as you also have, my love. I just realized that even magic has its limits. For each one that I am able to save as the Scarlet Pimpernel, twenty more are still suffering the same fate from yesterday."

"But that's why we try to save as many as we can. If you or I lose resolve, then no one is going to help." Marguerite replies, hugging her husband's side, "how did my charm work hold up with the Pimpernel attire?"

"Perfectly, I got in and out the compound, disabled the guards and made everyone who's not a magical think that I'm a group of twenty soldiers. After that, we got them to safety aboard Armand's Chinook and then off to safer areas. By the way, Armand is still annoyed that you charmed his Chinook to fly on your magic instead of the engine. You really do some heavy duty stuff." Percy remarks and then he cups his wife's chin with his right hand and kisses her softly.

"And that left me in magical exhaustion for a week in St. Mungos. I'm still sure my squib brother is grateful for not being subject to anti-aircraft fire. Up to all these years, I'm still in awe that you don't feel offended by being called a squib." Marguerite remarks as she rests her head on his shoulders. Both of them are still standing and enjoying the calm night above them.

"I wear it like a badge of pride, that's why. For one thing, I made my riches in the mundane and the wizarding world without the gift of magic. Second, I can play as much Sid Meier games as I want without my laptop fizzling out on me. And after buying the Knight Bus, travelling has been better for squibs like me without the dizzing trip and we now drive in style because the interiors were done by squibs from Rolls Royce. We can thank the valiant warriors at the Battle of Hogwarts for the opportunity squibs like me enjoy today." Percy exclaims to his wife, a wisp of a smile on the corner of his lips.

Two raven patronuses fly in front of them. "I should have known. Louis and Apolline are up to their schemes again aren't they?" Percy inquires even if he's sure of his wife's answer.

"Pretty much that case Percy, now hush, we need to know what they need." Marguerite replies as they listen in.

"Marguerite, I'm sure you've heard of the scuffle we had in _Parc de la Vilette_." Apolline opens, "At this moment, we're in the middle of a meeting with the Enjolrases and their friends, with the Potters and the Weasleys. It seems the transaction we've intercepted has weapons we have never encountered before. We'd like to ask for your help to gather more information about it, Marguerite."

Louis' voice comes out of the second patronus and he says, "I'm not sure but I think we'll also need you to contact the Scarlet Pimpernel. We've received reports of him doing rescue missions in the warzones for those captive Yazidi women. We'd all like his help to be honest. We'll see you in our usual haunt, even if you hate the logo of the damned dog inside the piano the owners placed. It can be obnoxious on the eyes after all."

The two patronuses disappeared and Percy shakes his head. "Shall I accompany you as my good old alter ego?"

"No need. Just come with me to Paris tomorrow. How are the men of the League by the way?" Marguerite suggests and Percy answers, "They're pleased with the progress. I told them to just keep preparing for shelter and psychological treatment for the ones we've rescued. I'm told that even the queen herself is pleased. We might as well continue with it."

"Good to know. Get ready for tomorrow." Marguerite whispers, as she stares lovingly into her husband's eyes.

"I have you with me. It's all I need really."

"That was corny."

"But definitely true," Percy retorts and kisses his wife fully for the new task ahead.

_November 13, 2015_

_Rue d'Or café, Rue de la Magie_

Louis and Apolline Delacour sit down inside of the café on the very corner of the room. With two cups of coffee for them and two cups of tea of Marguerite and the Scarlet Pimpernel waiting for them, Apolline lets a smile leave her lips. "Having Marguerite St. Just-Blakeney on our side should be best. I wonder about that Scarlet Pimpernel person doing ops in the warzone, he's been a bit of good help and we could use him on our side as well."

Louis' reply dies as he sees two people coming towards them. Marguerite and her foppish husband, who is currently straightening imaginary creases on his suit, are walking towards the Delacours.

"This is one of those days, isn't it Apolline." Louis remarks and shakes his head in frustration.

Apolline places a comforting hand on his shoulder and nods, signaling with a twirl of her finger to the nearby server to have another cup of tea ready.

The Blakeneys arrive just as the extra cup of tea arrives. "Pleasant morning to the two of you then," Percy greets them in a jovial tone and sits down beside Marguerite.

"Morning to you and Marguerite, Percy Blakeney," Apolline greets him back, while her smile lowers to a pleasant one. "I was under the impression that you would be with the Scarlet Pimpernel today."

"He's in another mission behind enemy lines, Apolline, but my husband is really my contact for the Scarlet Pimpernel."Marguerite remarks and sips her tea, "excellent tea by the way."

"I'll let them know. Now Percy, we would just like to ask if the Scarlet Pimpernel has any intel for us. We're only at speculation on where the enemy's leader is coming from. We'll need his expertise to trace the persons responsible for these magical weaponry and equipment getting into extremist hands." Louis explains and takes his own sip of coffee. Three lumps of sugar and a hint of cream, just the way he likes it.

Apolline finishes her sip of pure black coffee and adds, "And we'd like to offer you a place in our own Privy Council. If the Scarlet Pimpernel was here as well, we'd like him in our team. Eponine Enjolras leads the operations there when there are missions to be had."

"You really called it the Privy Council? So Eponine Enjolras is the queen now? Horrible idea considering your country chopped off Marie Antoinette's head." Percy retorts, finishing his cup of tea quickly while taking care to not spill any on his suit.

"It was their idea. I suppose it will be temporary in nature. I can't imagine us being subject to royalty, unlike you." Louis refutes, "We still don't have a codename for the entire thing because this isn't exactly above board."

"As long as it isn't called the Privy council, I think the Scarlet Pimpernel wouldn't be opposed to keep his mouth shut. Please tell him that Percy." Marguerite acknowledges and looks meaningfully at Percy.

After letting out a sigh, Percy replies, "I'll tell him that. Anyway, he also told me to tell you guys to start working on some toys so ops won't be as horrible as the last one. Anyway, my wife and I must be off, we're headed to Le Meurice." Percy offers his hand to Marguerite and she takes it, leaving some galleons to pay for their drinks.

She transfigures her robes into a black backless cocktail dress with white lace on the sides of the back opening and a pattern of off-white swirls to form something that would remind someone of wings. _"Au revoir Louis et Apolline Delacour, merci beaucoup pur le thé."_ Giving their hosts a wave, they exit with the attention of most of the patrons of _Rue d'Or_ café staring at their leaving.

Once outside, Percy helps her into their waiting magical limo and they head off to the restaurant. "You really shouldn't have been that obnoxious, but given the seriousness of their request, will you help them?" Marguerite asks her husband while feeling amused and annoyed at him at the same time.

"I will help them, but I cannot trust them to keep my identity safe as of now." Percy replies and they head off to enjoy the night.

In the café however, Louis and Apolline stay at their table to discuss. "Annoyances aside, what will be the official name of our team?"

"Privy Council is worth a laugh but really unworkable, we are French after all. How about we give them the project name S.M.A.R.T. which means Specialized Magical Response Team?" Louis suggests, taking a sip of coffee and emptying the cup.

"I would love to use that if the British didn't already used that in their Mysteries division for their own strike team during the first Voldemort uprising." Apolline shakes off the idea and takes a quick bite off her caesar salad that she recently ordered.

Louis ponders on it for a moment and then reaches an idea. "Well there is this one name on the tip of my tongue. Since our last project started with the letter K, I think it's time to have the team go under L. They will be known as the Lethifold Division of the Department of Mysteries and Research. Odin would probably like it too Muninn."

"That he will, Huginn. We'd better go and update the team. I think the name change is necessary since our English rogue agents came into the group as well." Apolline acknowledges and changes her robes into a form-hugging purple sleeveless bodycon dress that covers her thighs an inch above her knee.

"You've got to love being me," Louis whispers to his wife as he places an arm on Apolline's side and holds her possessively for everyone else to see on their way out. Apolline kisses his cheek and retorts, "you're lucky I like smart and handsome men." They head on home and plan ahead with newly christened Lethifold Division.


	11. Chapter 11

_November 13, 2015_

_Algiz Warders and Research Industries, La Defénse, France_

Maximillian D'Artagan takes a swig of bourbon from a shot glass, looking at the setting sun and the orange hues of clouds above on his company's high-rise office floor. Everything around him would not be out of place for a muggle CEO of a multinational company.

His office has an elegantly polished oak desk, comfortable leather seats with cushioning charms embedded in runes and his bookshelves filled with copies of the bi-monthly Runes Journal and small notebooks filled with rune sequences that he broke from his running around lost tombs as a cursebreaker for fun. Not that anyone would see those little gems of wisdom. If someone tries to take it, he or she loses an arm and that's just the beginning of the thief's problems.

He looks at the ministry folder on his desk and scowls at it, "How is it my fault that my weapons are being sold on the free market and now those idiot extremists got their hands on it? Best excuse really, best lie hidden in truth. The black market pays better than the free market after all. Still, those ISIL folks are getting too cocky with the gloves. I bet the Ministry has someone already investigating. That last transaction of course is really the hard thing to take."

Maximillian sighs and lets his hand wander through the spines of the many notebooks he's compiled. "Feared and respected. I'm actually impressed that my little prototype worked for a militant-trained squib and nearly besting the squad they sent."

A knock interrupts his train of thought and his secretary Helena Cervantes could be heard from his room, " _Bonjour_ Max, Apolline Delacour wishes to see you." A boyish smile appears on his ruggedly handsome face. He smoothes over his jet black hair. _'Ah, the only woman I couldn't win over. My old friend and rival Louis is a lucky man.'_ He tells himself and opens the door for Apolline.

"Good to see you Apolline," he greets her, "what do I owe your presence in visiting me? No problems I hope."

Apolline smiles widely at him and kisses his cheek. "Hmm, lavender, let me guess? Your flavor of the month is a red head isn't it?"

Maximillian chuckles at his keen friend and says, "Caught me there. You were always good at guesswork based on women's perfume when it comes to my bedwarmers. Well, it this a social visit? Being alone in the house when your grandchildren are in England would do that to a person."

Apolline spots the Ministry folder and mutters, "I've heard Louis' rantings about those idiots blaming the supplier and then I decided to visit my best friend and catch up a bit from our monthly discussions about runes."

Maximillian shrugs and takes his seat. "Definitely that one Apolline, but it's really part of the business after all. The Russians and the Americans are always trying to one up each other on the political stage, that's why I have a business in defense contracts besides the free market availability of my rune work."

"Don't worry about those idiots. Heck, since Louis is now bogged down in the Ministry in his research work, we felt that I should visit you more." Apolline states, "I have missed our discussions on rune works and charms."

D'Artagan nods and pours himself a glass of wine, while offering another glass to Apolline. "That I do and I wish Louis was here because I could use a partner of his caliber here in the research and fabrication. But I can only stay an hour. I have a meeting with the Russian Ambassador since Russia has stepped up its efforts in that Syrian war." He apologizes and they begin to discuss the Runemaster Journal's latest findings about the runes called _Baybayin_ script from the Philippines and how the moon language works on common spells and potions.

_November 13, 2015_

_War Room, Enjolras Residence – Early evening_

Eponine chuckles at Louis describing his meeting with Percy and Marguerite St. Just from his Hologram. "Alright, no more queen jokes. That was horrible for him to take it that seriously. HQ would do. I bet they're laughing at you and Muninn."

"I suppose you'll accept at us being tagged as the Lethifold Division?" Louis asks.

"As long as we don't have to worry about dragon hide armors, but firearms damage is a concern to us. Do you have anything in the works there?" Eponine responds while seeing Courfeyrac tinker with the CAT-6 LAN cable to the computer and rune cluster engraved on it.

"I'm sorry, but all we've got at the moment is dragon hide armor. We've enchanted it a bit to slow down physical objects but that's about as much as we can do. Anyway, I have to go now. Muninn is about to contact me about a lead we have, Huginn out."

Hermione walks towards Eponine, as she shakes her head and sees the hologram blink out. "How's the link from Mr. Valjean?"

Attaching one more cable, she is filled with wonder and finds a holographic map of Paris from a satellite view. "Can I zoom in?"

"Try it." Feuilly says underneath the table.

She takes her wand out and points at where her home roughly is. A moment later, she sees three people walking outside her home. "Auguste's coming home with Azelma and Bahorel."

A few moments after and the door opens to reveal the three. "Looks like your little tinkering works." Eponine remarks.

Feuilly and Combeferre gave each other a high five for a job well done. Hermione sits beside Eponine and begins to tinker with the holo-map. "You two are brilliant. I could never have thought to connect the computers into a emitter." She remarks at the two.

Meanwhile, Bahorel shows them ceramic-plated Kevlar vests. "I've gotten this from one of my friends that works with the Foreign Legion and he told me that they use it in different militaries around the world. He also told me of a concept of doing these into smaller cubes, place it inside cloth and wrap it around the vest like tiles would."

Hermione comes in and adds, "They actually call it dragon skin as well, I haven't gotten to update with muggle news, but I've seen how it works in one of those weapon shows muggles have."

She gently cuts the lining of the cloth containing the ceramic place and she cuts it evenly and smoothly before levitating it and lining it in mid air like a group of small square tiles forming a larger square. She also conjures a bit of thick gel behind it, after which, she fires a standard piercing hex on square. They see the small tile it hits vaporized but the gel is untouched.

"Perhaps we can bother them with ceramic plate, the real ones of course, because the transfigured ones only remain in that state for a certain amount of time." Azelma suggests and sees everyone agree with her. "It looks like we have one problem down, Eponine. Dragon skin behind dragon scale vest is some wonderful irony in armor."

Eponine grins at them and wobbles towards Auguste. "Welcome back." She holds his hands and sees his wounds are much better.

"Glad to be back. Since we don't have missions, did you go to work with Joly and Comberre today?" Auguste asks, while Bahorel ushers Azelma and Hermione to help him fabricate a prototype.

"I did even if they want me to take a break in the trauma section of Hôtel Dieu." Eponine answers him softly.

Enjolras chuckles, "I'm pretty sure you won't until Ian is due. On another matter, I've spotted Hermione, but where are Ron, Harry and Luna?"

"Ron and Harry are back in England but they're placing their vacation leaves for now and using Australia Luna is gathering information on the name of the company where those gloves came from. Are you familiar with Algiz Warders and Research Industries?" Eponine replies and sits back down. Auguste grabs another chair and proceeds to give Eponine a clothed backrub just to ease her back pain.

"I am. One of the riches companies in France and has its hands on warding, rune research and fabrication of applicable products. I suppose it was some really good runes that could do so much damage. They're expected to be on the list." Enjolras voices out his opinion on the subject, "but I think we'll have to go to the warzone itself to have definite proof or a lead at least on where they're getting the equipment."

"That we do," Eponine mutters and suddenly remembers something, "by the way, you don't happen to have an update on my good for nothing father?"

"That guy got away again because he didn't successfully help the refugees when we got there and didn't violate any French laws. The Greek ministry is already overworked so they didn't manage to submit a case of his head as well. Slippery bastard should have been a barrister instead of some common con man." Enjolras grumbles while Eponine feels a kick.

"I think Ian is agreeing with you." She remarks and they look at each other before they both laugh at the thought of old man Thenadier become a lawyer. "He doesn't have the fortitude to be under the Richelieu house."

"You still remember our sorting?" Auguste reminisces and Eponine nods.

"I definitely remember it. It makes me want to see Beauxbatons and Madame too. Those three batons are always good for a laugh."

"Auguste Enjolras!" Madame Maxime calls and a neat curly blond-haired boy of eleven steps forward. His soft innocent eyes and fixate on three batons of equal length, which are on top of a silver tray.

The headmistress guides Auguste to his chair and she taps her wand on the tray and the three batons begin to hit each other in mid air. From the other students sorted ahead of him, only one flies out and taps the student in the head to sort them into the houses of Richelieu for craftiness, Peverell for ingenuity or Le Fay for creativity.

After nearly five minutes of dueling each other, one falls back down on the tray and the remaining batons zoom towards him and stop half a foot away. With both floating in front of him, Madame Maxime urges, "It seems the batons want you to choose your destiny, Mr Enjolras. Don't worry about it, there are no wrong answers with this one."

Auguste picks the one on his left and red sparks come out. "Welcome to the Richelieu house, Auguste Enjolras." She smiles at him and he joins the table for his house."

He notices a girl at the back of the line fidgeting over her second hand robes and unease of the area around her. A moment later, they lock eyes and Enjolras glances over the batons and nods to let her know it will be fine.

After a few more students, her name is called out. "Eponine Thenadier!" A black haired girl with sad eyes walks towards Madame Maxime and the headmistress whispers to her. "Don't be afraid, Ms. Thenadier. You are not dictated by the actions of that man and will forge a better path."

Her sad eyes changes to a resolute one and she sits on the table to be sorted. Again, the batons duel in the air. Each one hitting each other viciously compared to Enjolras' batons. The fifth minute passes and the one in the middle zooms off towards Eponine and she grabs it before the other two get closer. The baton lets out royal blue sparks and all three go back to the silver tray. "Welcome to the Le Fay house, Ms. Thenadier. I hope you enjoy your time here in Beauxbatons."

"We were the first baton stalls in the last five decades then and then your brother Gavroches shows us up in having the batons fight it out for seven minutes. It would have gone longer if he didn't stand up and grab the nearest baton." Enjolras remarks with a grin on his lips after remembering their sorting.

"You know Gav, he takes his own course of action which is why he survived on the streets, while _maman_ and I made do with what we could gather, buy or steal for food." Eponine shivers from those memories and Auguste kisses her forehead. "That's why we're here and doing our best to have a better world for our children."


	12. Chapter 12

_November 14, 2015_

_ICW Designated operations hub - Naxos, Greece_

Mikhail tinkers with a black crane origami he made recently and makes it fly around Katherine. At the moment, Katherine is writing an after action report of the recent recovery of magical families making their way out of the war zone.

An American bald eagle flies in with a note in its claws. After the delivery, it gets portkeyed away. "Holy shit, the upper echelons have sent us the blue note." Mikhail announces and Katherine's face pales suddenly.

"Something bad has happened."

Mikhail reads the note quietly, just as Harun comes out with a cup of Arabic Coffee in his small cup and a couple of sweetened date fruits. His eyes narrow further and upon finishing the note, he gently places the missive for Katherine to read and conjures a series of black crane origamis to fly around him. "Excuse me for a bit, I need to let off a bit of steam." He doesn't even notice the scent of freshly brewed Arabic coffee that Harun knows he has a weakness for.

"Bad news indeed, we can only operate in the Aegean, Greece, Turkey, Bulgaria and the warzones now. All magical travel going to and going out of Auguste's country is suspended. Not even a spatial walkway between two vanishing cabinets can be used to get any magicals out of there without clearance." Katherine mutters, "I've never thought they'd go for those measures. The rumors are true that their Ministry is capable of that."

Harun shakes his head in disbelief at the news and they hear explosions going on below them a moment later.

Katherine gives Harun a meaningful look and remarks, "He needs his energies out." A burst of concentrated crimson light nearly comes through the floor 5 meters from them and cracks the reinforcement the ICW agents did on the floor.

Harun's face turns white at the power behind the spells while Katherine could only shake her head in dismay.

A cloaked figure appears before them in a blur and conjures a shield immediately with his cane. Katherine's spell splashes harmlessly after second later. "Halt, I am a friend. I traced you through my friends in the ICW. Which means don't even try to pull that spell, Mr. Benayoun." A deep and gruff voice says coming from the cloaked figure.

Katherine notices the man in a scarlet robe and dragonhide boots. His face is covered by a scarlet mask and after she manages to analyze the structure of the man, she knows he is a fit gentleman who might give her a tough fight in a wand fight.

The new arrival flings a card from under his glove and it lands gracefully on Katherine's desk. It shows a scarlet pimpernel flower in the middle.

"I did not expect the Scarlet Pimpernel to appear here of all places. Why are you here?" Katherine asks, looking intently at their visitor and still keeping her wand in her hand.

"I have some information for you that may help us find the culprits to those magical runes running around the extremists. Based on my intel wandering around Turkey, they're going to have it landfall here in Naxos before heading out to Greece proper." Percy informs Harun and Katherine while constant shakes are being felt from the ground below.

"So you'll need a strike team?" Harun asks, "You do know I'm not a fighter and not even a member of the ICW."

"You're selling yourself short Mr. Benayoun. You have lived in Turkey for most of your natural life and know certain parts of it that will help us get closer to the source of the breach for the ICW's Statute of Secrecy." The rumbling and magical pressure below has subsided and Mikhail comes up to see the Scarlet Pimpernel with Katherine and Harun.

"I'm not even surprised you're here anymore," Mikhail remarks while still feeling peeved at getting his operation parameters changed significantly, "get straight to the point then."

"Since you put it that way, Mikhail Chung, I'll get straight to it. I need you three to help me track and intercept a weapon delivery that's going to land here. We have a day to prepare for it so I suppose that is enough time for you to get rid of your tantrum." Percy retorts with mild irritation at being cut off.

"We haven't agreed to anything yet," Katherine interrupts, slamming her fist on the table. "Not unless you tell us your agenda in bringing the ICW here."

Percy raises his eye through his mask and keeps his composure so he can maintain the charm work behind the costume. "I believe by intercepting the shipment and defeating the enemies there, we will have a clue where those items are being supplied."

Katherine huffs and Percy hands her a schematic of the weapon sketch he got from Louis and Apolline Delacour. " _Paalam,_ " Percy bids them farewell in perfect Filipino before disappearing before their very eyes.

"That arrogant bastard! We're already swamped with work here with limited resources." Katherine thunders and unleashes a bombardment hex on the nearby pillar. One of the cranes intercepts it and the spell gets absorbed into it.

"Every little bit helps, that could be useful." Mikhail responds coolly and gestures to Harun to sit down with him. Harun pours some of the green coffee he prepared for them into three small cups, to which they partake.

"Hands down this is one of the best coffees I've ever had." Mikhail rejoices and Katherine gives Harun a thoughtful nod.

"Thank you. So, I suppose you could give me the breakdown of what these sketches mean?" Harun inquires, curious about the different etchings on each part.

Katherine traces it with her left index finger and says, "So something here to absorb spells just like your origami cranes Mikhail. But this one is interesting because it amplifies the flow when it returns the salvo into three separate directions."

"And the center core is important because it keeps track of how much magic it is charged with. Hmm," Mikhail trails off and sees the neatly cursive written note the Scarlet Pimpernel places on the side.

_Hi,_

_Blunt force works through and does not get absorbed. Transfiguration works perfect. Alternatively, maybe the battery can be overcharged?_

_SP_

Harun places fingers on his temple being overwhelmed with the technical details but gets the general idea. "So this is a suit that someone wears and blasts magic?"

"Not necessarily a suit but parts of one, like a knight's gauntlet and breastplate." Katherine elaborates and gulps when she spots that a glove with the words _indrajAlika_ meaning magician in Sanskrit _._ "That's why they're able to detect magicals in a community. There's also using those gloves to connect to this weapon, but they need a ground for this type of magic or it will overload and explode upon contact."

"Squibs," Mikhail sobers with the words and remembers the first time this was encountered. Letting out a long whistle, he asks, "Are we sure we want to help that suicidal masked nutter?"

Katherine ponder on it for a moment and with a steely-eyed glint, she answers, "I'll be damned if let more of these land to European shores. Better intercept it in somewhere less crowded in which we have mastery of the field than anything else."

Mikhail nods and responds, "And I'd rather help." He turns his attention to Harun, who looks back at him with resolution in his eyes. "You don't even have to ask. I'd like to get back at the people who persecutes and executes innocents."

Once they make a decision, the card of the Scarlet Pimpernel glows brighter and a crisp British woman's voices comes out of the card. "We're glad you've come to a decision. You'll see the details of our mission to intercept from here a day's time. Good luck and keep sheltering the fleeing families from those monsters."

Mikhail only mutters, "What have we gotten ourselves into again.

_November 14, 2015_

_Lethifold Division HQ – Paris, France_

Inside the control room, Ron patches up last of the improved armors and sews it up nice and tight with magic. Letting out a breath of relief, he looks to his wife and finds her haggard over not being able to find an opening to go to Australia.

"Mine?" Ron inquires and touches Hermione's shoulder. She turns towards him and composes herself, before responding, "I'm just worried about them. I never realized that their country has something like this in their arsenal."

Auguste overhears the conversation and he says, "I'm sorry. It's really top secret, but now you know that the rumors are true. Odin must be pissed off as hell to play that card in the first place." He still feels a little sore in the torso but is alright nonetheless.

Ron nods in acknowledgement and excuses the both of them to get a cup of warm hot chocolate. "I have faith that your parents are handling it well."

"I know, but I do miss Hugo. You can't help but worry." Hermione explains, seeing Harry already floating in six mugs of hot chocolate to drink.

"Even for someone with an emotional range of a teaspoon, I definitely want to be back with my kids as well." Ron answers, takes two mugs and hands one for Hermione. "You're a lifesaver, Harry."

"Thanks you two. I don't think I can cope well without any of you really. I prefer company and family." Harry remarks and spots Luna with Auguste and Eponine focusing on a wall near the door.

"I suppose we can surprise them, but I'm against ripping apart good sketchpad paper and casting an engorgement charm on it." Luna turns and sees the Trio walk towards them. "Love, I suggested that we cheer everyone with my doodle, but there will be a bloody fight where no one comes unscathed if someone tries to do that." She looks pointedly at Auguste, who is also receiving a death glare from Eponine.

"I'm sorry! I'm sorry! It was only an idea!" Auguste exclaims and raises his arms in surrender.

Hermione thinks about it for a moment and suggests, "The best way really is to get a canvas, stick it to the wall like a poster, use a hologram spell to duplicate and outline the sketch, and then use a Piertotum Locomotor to make the painting implements to sketch it out for you. Also, she can do it the artist way and do it all over again and this time on the canvas with paint"

Eponine looks at Hermione thoughtfully and agrees, "Sounds like a plan. Hop to it and summon the stuff we need citizen and gentlemen, we'll do the actual painting." She smiles brightly at the idea and Luna's excitement is seen through a giddy giggle she lets out while seeing the men frantically fetching the things she needs.

"That's an improvement of the stuff I had to endure as a student in Hogwarts when finding stuff." Luna remarks and takes out a blowtorch from her small pouch. Letting out an impression of a madman, she cackles maniacally which fazes everyone out except Harry. He only gives her a look and she pouts, "Not even once?"

"Just one quote, Luna love. I know the cabin fever is getting to you."

Taking a deep breath, she exclaims, "It's alive! It's alive! My creation is alive!" Clearing her throat, she apologizes, "I'm sorry, I got carried away."

Eponine smirks at Luna and responds, "No worries, I'm definitely sure your painting will be as close as alive as it should be. Now hop to it." Hermione, Luna and Eponine conjure curtains to cover them while working. "No peeking and let everyone settle down when they arrive. We'll probably take fifteen minutes to sort everything out." Hermione adds and closes the curtain behind them.

Five minutes later, the rest of the Amis appear and huddle up to the surprise. "What is it already?" Grantaire asks impatiently at the three men keeping watch. "Now that would be telling." Ron retorts and watches Gavroche, Bahorel and Feuilly charm his hair to pink while being distracted by Ron.

A swish of the curtain, ten minutes later and the three women appear. They block the view of the artwork behind them.

"Before I begin, why is your hair shockingly pink, Grantaire?" Eponine quips, while the culprits chuckle discretely.

"What?" Conjuring a mirror, he sees what Eponine was talking about. "I'll have your heads for this." He bellows out and the pink hair turns into red and forms a heart shape. "Finite Incantatem!" Grantaire casts and his face turns white with powder and a heavy amount of red blush-on.

Everyone bursts in laughter at the prank and Gavroche, Feuilly and Bahorel take a bow with a safe distance away from the target.

"Turn him back already, you three." Auguste's exasperation and amusement are evident on his tone. "Besides, you'll like the surprise we have."

The three reverse the spells they've cast after taking a picture covertly and sit a good deal away from the recipient.

"Citizens and my friends under the Lethifold Division," Hermione starts, gesturing to Eponine, "are proud to present the latest sketch from the surprise artist within the group."

"I hope you like it." Luna remarks and unveils the painting behind them.

It shows the coat of arms of Paris in full vivid detail and each one of their portraits are lined up under the widened canvas underneath the seal coat of arms above. Another flick of the wand and the remaining blank spaces of the canvas turn into a starry night and the words of Henley's poem Invictus can be seen written down from right and left side of the logo.

Everyone seeing this for the first time is silent and all beaming smiles appear a moment later with burning resolve in their eyes for the task at hand.

"So you were solemnly up to no good then." Harry jokes and to which Luna replies, "and it was mischief managed for morale boost don't you think?"

"That you did, Luna." Harry remarks. He then kisses her cheek and hugs her tight, hoping that Lily and Hugo are having fun and are safe away from this warzone that they're trying to stop.


	13. Chapter 13

_November 15, 2015_

_Rue de la Magie – Paris, France_

Apolline's holds her husband's hand tightly, seeing the quiet and empty streets ahead. "Is this what our daughter Fleur went through when Tom Marvolo Riddle had control of the Ministry of Magic in the British Isles?" she asks, bewildered about the sudden change of atmosphere even in the unseen street of magic.

"Yes. I've done infiltration missions to keep our daughter and son, Fleur and Bill Weasley, safe from the Ministry of Magic and those that want to harm them. You remember how despondent I was whenever I came back from those missions? It is as suffocating as this. The muggles are really having a hard time for the past few days, ma amour." Louis acknowledges. His eyes are glossed over with his occulumency, but raw emotion still flows through his words. "Our favorite dining place in Beirut was destroyed by a suicide bomber a day before this attack happened. The quaint small eatery where I met you and swept you off your feet is now gone. Our friend Mira Haddad sent me a missive through a falcon messenger she has yesterday with that information."

Apolline ushers her husband inside and take the same secluded corner in the empty café. Only the owner was in today and he smiles sadly at his favorite regulars.

He makes his way towards them and quietly serves them coffee and freshly-baked baguettes with butter on the side. "It's on the house, _monsieur et madame_ Delacour."

" _Merci beaucoup_ , Guillaume," Louis responds with a nod to the owner. "You have been most kind to us all these years." Apolline gratefully adds.

Guillaume shakes his head and tells them, "You're my favorite guests to my humble establishment. It is always an honor to have you here." After saying those words, he leaves them with a courteous bow.

Apolline places an arm around Louis' shoulder and brings him close. The shock and pain of every failure they have collapses their resolve for a moment. Enclosing each other in their beloved's embrace, they weep softly for the senseless loss of life around them.

Guillaume notices this and flicks his wand to cover their table with a curtain for privacy. He summons a bottle of 1990 _Sauternes_ from Bordeaux and proceeds to drink in silence while staring outside the dreary and sober street outside.

His musings are interrupted when a falcon swoops in and drops a letter addressed to _Monsieur_ and _Madame_ Delacour before being portkeyed out of there.

Taking one last sip, he keeps the letter pristine and slowly opens the curtain and places it on top of the table. "Be strong, fear and uncertainty is what they want us to feel." Guillaume whispers before closing the curtain behind him and getting back to his drink.

After their privacy is returned, Louis nudges a sobbing Apolline to look at him. She does so and sees his tired eyes fill up with a sense of determination. "We need to be strong and we need to get the team ready for the road ahead. We will rise up again." Louis states and Apolline straightens at his words.

She cups his chin and gives him a soft kiss, "that's the reason why I married you Louis Delacour. Not for your looks, your position or wealth, but for your actions in the face of adversity. _Je t'aime, mon amour_."

" _Je t'aime ma vie._ " Louis kisses her back and his wife cuddles closer to him for warmth. After getting comfortable, Louis subtly casts detection spells on the missive left by the café owner and finds it clear to read. The flicks his wand a couple of times and it opens and unfolds the letter within.

_Louis and Apolline Delacour,_

_Sir Percy Blakeney informed me of your concerns for the increasing incidents of magical equipment and tools in extremists' hands. I have also been investigating on it and would like to let you know that we will intercept another one in Naxos, Greece. So far, this is only the second instance that a weapon of that caliber will be headed out to France._

_For now, you can contact Marguerite or Percy if you have any information to give. Use the flower picture I sent you so we won't have to rely on birds. After all, it's too easy to be intercepted._

_My heart goes out to your beautiful country and I'll be in touch with you soon._

_SP_

"It's time to contact the kids that we're going in to Greece in case he and the ICW duo need backup." Apolline suggests and Louis replies, "Good plan. I'll handle Odin and the badges. You handle the volunteers. I think the Hogwarts gang would opt to skip this one out. We know how it feels like to have something bad happen near you and you can't hug your child when it occurs."

His wife nods in agreement, but holds Louis' arm as he makes a move to stand up. "Our friend has served us food and coffee from his own pocket, out of the goodness of his heart for this melancholic time. It is distasteful to leave it untouched. Besides, we need our strength and haven't eaten breakfast."

"And here I wonder why you still maintain your figure with the volume of food you eat." Louis mutters and as he turns, he sees Apolline's right hand begin to morph into a claw with a fireball forming in the middle of her palm.

"Would you like to repeat that, Louis Delacour?" Apolline asks with a sultry sweet tone that would not be out of place in their bedroom, only that it is accompanied with an obvious tone of challenge for his insolence.

Louis visibly gulps and exclaims, "No, I didn't say anything! I am a dimwit of the highest order! I plead temporary insanity and excrete untruths from my mouth a moment before! Let's eat this wonderfully warm baguette and this great coffee from Guillaume before it gets cold!" He sweats and shakes while saying this, to the amusement of his wife.

They begin to partake in their breakfast with Apolline still chuckling at her husband's fear from her wrath, while spreading butter on her warm baguette.

_November 15, 2015_

_Late evening – a beach somewhere in Bodrum, Turkey_

Liyakath Ali looks at the ten people travelling with him to deliver this crate. He internally gulps seeing the piercing gazes of the battle-hardened men and women accompanying this very package. _"Must be gold, platinum, weapons or hostages for all I care, I just want the cash promised on the other side. These muggle repelling charms done by my witch cousin are an absolute godsend for a small-time courier like me. As long as it isn't that Thenadier guy again, I'll have a good quiet trip ahead of me."_ He tells himself and hauls the cargo in the middle of his seaworthy ship.

Taking a glance at his reflection, he sees his dark skin and square jaw stare back at him. The muscles from his arms and upper from his constant cargo lifting and calloused hands are his silent testaments to frugal beginnings somewhere in Rural India.

"Is that everything you need with you?" Liyakath asks in simple Arabic. The clean shaven Syrian man nods without speaking and they head off to Naxos in Greece. The boat motor noisily runs full steam through the thankfully calm waters.

To his relief, the patrol boats scouring around the seas still ignore his presence. After all, he is content with the results while convincing himself in his thoughts. _"I think it isn't haram at all because I'm not the sorcerer who created the magic for my boat. I'm just the beneficiary of this particular development."_

The closest one to the engine smiles softly to herself, covered by her _hijab_. ' _Since I know how to operate this damned noisy water propulsion machine, I think we're just waiting on a signal from Naxos before we dispose of this simpleton.'_ She muses with an amused smile on her lips. _'Finally I can remove this head covering, use my wand and get back to my normal job for AWRI as a product quality control analyst. More like glorified test dummy and babysitter if you ask me.'_

Halfway through the journey, she stops the engine.

Liyakath furrows his eyebrows for a moment before he roars, "What the fuck is the matter with you? Why have you turned off my boat?"

He begins to take heavy oar he has but finds himself on gunpoint by three people a moment later.

"Pretty much a mutiny for you," the leader of the outfit says in a gruff tone. He is the most well dressed o f the group with his rugged pants, polished military boots and a clean white shirt compared to the faded jeans and shirts with trainers for his companions. Being one of the three with guns, he shrugs and remarks, "The caliphate thanks you for the boat for our cause. Your sacrifice will not be in vain, my brother in Islam. You shall go in paradise tonight after all."

Three gunshots ring through the calm night and sends Liyakath down into the briny deep below and the boat engine starts again, heading out to the Island of Kos.

"Hmm, I think I spotted a shark coming around 200 meters. He probably has to hope that the shark I saw coming towards him isn't one from a small group of great whites that were recently found here in the Aegean more than a decade ago." The leader states, while he muses the answer. A moment later, he gives up because the loud roaring of the boat engine successfully deafens the actual answer, save for an increasing pile of blood that fades away their team's sight from the darkness of the night.


	14. Chapter 14

_November 16, 2015_

_Ministry of Magic – London, England_

Zacharias Smith starts another non-descript day in the Department of Magical Transportation office. The stacks of paperwork, office notes through paper airplanes and his trusty eagle owl quill beside his well arranged inkwells. He takes a seat and starts filtering through the paper pile on top of him.

In the midst of all the boring sorting of travel requests, he spots something that immediately catches his eye. A pair of vacation leaves from Harry Potter and Hermione Granger with their designated officers-in-charge listed down for a duration of one month. _'Interesting, they've just had tea with Kingsley a few days ago and now they both are on leave? Something is fishy about that. Perhaps D'Artagan has an insight.'_

Quickly scribbling another note, he taps a dot into the quick note device Maximillian gives him and disappears almost instantaneously. A few moments later, he receives a reply.

_Z,_

_Good work on spotting that. I've had my package tampered with and needed to send a new one because it didn't meet my standards._

_Keep me informed, there might be something I might have missed from there, perhaps where they'll be going?_

_RM_

Zach places the quick notes inside his nearest pocket and goes back to work. He doesn't believe that they'll be going to the Bahamas since there isn't any indication of magical in his scanner in Heathrow or any portkey travel going there. Initially, the thinks a cruise ship might be another way, but with a young headstrong and weird kid in Lily Luna, it would make a longer trip for them unbearable. _'Occam's Razor after all'_

On the other side of the continent, Maximillian sits down on his comfortable chair and reclines on it, his back facing the entrance door. His eyes are pensive with the latest update and his words still reverberate in his mind with the latest shield rune bracelets he just pitched in.

_We protect our world from those who would want to see it burn. Do you want to be feared or respected? Why not both by conducting business with A.W.R.I? To peace!_

He raises the champagne flute still on his right hand before he takes a casual sip and places it down on the side. ' _Where would Harry Potter and Hermione Granger-Weasley go? I also have information that Luna Lovegood-Potter and Ron Weasley are also out of town.'_ Max ponders, but stops with a sigh, "I'll put that thought somewhere else for now. I'd better put a better armor for delivery, unfortunately, I still need a squib to wear it…"

Maximillian smiles to himself and whistles happily at the increasing sales their company is getting.

"I hope those 'customers' I have heading to Naxos aren't complete idiots and have the improved armor intercepted again."

_Meanwhile in Naxos, Greece_

"A man was spotted with three gunshot wounds and most likely drowned to death in between Bodrun and Kos. His arm and leg are missing too, but judging by the bite marks, it wasn't caused by an ax or slicing spell." Harun explains, seeing the latest report handed to him by a police officer he confounded during one of their refugee runs.

"Someone wanted someone to keep quiet. We'll have to keep an eye out and be ready when my paper sentries alert me of any suspicious group." Mikhail says, "but wait, where is that damned Scarlet Pimpernel, he should be here since we're going to join his strike team."

"Right here of course," A voice comes from behind them and Percy finds himself facing three pointed wands at him. "I did tell you I will come." He gives the report a glance and nods, gesturing for them to continue.

Katherine chimes in, "Given that and the distance they have to cover, Naxos really is the best choice if they don't want to be hassled into stopping every nearby island."

"And we'll be able to meet them during the nighttime here. Just be on guard and prepare for the next two hours. We'll be ready by then." The Scarlet Pimpernel remarks and disappears in thin air.

" _Hominum Revelio!"_ Katherine incants and does not find anyone. She does here these words of course, "Up your game, that elementary spell can be countered with the right material." The same deep voice says.

"Damn, might as well prepare instead. I hope one of you reminds me to punch that cheeky bastard after this." Mikhail grumbles and starts tracing Chinese words on the pieces of rice paper he has. Harun replies, "Definitely. I'd like to punch that cocky person as well."

"Count me in as well." Katherin mumbles and they continue their preparation.

_8:00 PM - Naxos, Greece._

" _It was like the wonder of a falling star that no muggles have passed their delineated perimeter._ " Mikhail tells himself while waiting for the Pimpernel's go signal.

Underneath the barely visible moon are a group of ten people with one large crate. All of them wear the gloves with the Sanskrit word for Wizard. The only bald person their target is barking orders to stabilize their delivery vessel.

Katherine's blood is already pumping harder into her heart and worries the price they may have to pay in case they launch the assault. A faint whistle comes in from their masked companion. ' _It's about time,'_ she tells herself before summoning a nearby trash bin and slams into one of the package handlers violently.

Mikhail on the other hand breaks through his cover and his eyes are narrowed in righteous fury. The paper talismans and paper cranes comes from all sides. Before his enemy could ignite, he unleashes a torrent of water which knocks back another of his enemies.

Harun dodges a killing curse by half an inch and returns the curse with a crimson looking cutter with black undertones.

One of them attempts to block it with marble, but the spell effortlessly goes through and hits the recipient in the jugular and falls down, trying to apply direct pressure to the wound. _"Seven down."_

The Pimpernel hops into action, hitting one with his cane on the nape and a solid punch knocks the extremist out cold.

Taking a forward roll, she flicks her wand to her right side and manages to make two of the attackers stick to each other abruptly and knocked their AK rifles from their hands. "Four left," she mutters jumping behind the nearest concrete wall and taking cover from attacking fire from the leader's desert eagle shots.

' _Not on my watch,'_ Percy tells himself and smacks the gun away violently from the right hand of the bald man in the middle. A left hook suddenly comes and the Scarlet Pimpernel barely manages to block it with his right. He winces with the amount of force the man's fist can hit him with.

Mikhail disintegrates the desert eagle with another paper talisman and he sees Harun pinned down by oncoming rifle fire from the other three. A black speck floats by and he smirks, "go."

A blasting hex from the small black crane origami lights up behind the three and it knocks two of the attackers down. The woman wearing a hijab catches Mikhail's eye and she gives him a smirk before she portkeys away. "Damn!"

Percy parries the left cross and gets hit by a left knee to the gut at the same time. He grimaces and gets kicked away by a forward kick to the torso.

The leader dodges an inch and the piercing hex from Harun passes by. Doing a clean backflip to dodge the incoming attack, he manages to hide behind the package and unravels the case. He taps a small nub on the middle part of his left glove.

Mikhail brings the Scarlet Pimpernel up and gives him a pain relieving potion, while watching Harun and Katherine angrily pounding the remaining cover of the last man against them.

A blinding light stops their offensive attack and a pulse nearly catches Harun unawares and a part of his dragonhide armor is cracked from the blast while dodging.

"Round 2," their target remarks before jumping forward and giving Katherine a backhand. Her battle cloak catches most of the force from the hit but she gets knocked out after hitting a nearby wall.

Mikhail's eyes narrow and he blocks the leader's way to Harun and the Scarlet Pimpernel.

"You're feeling smug for having your sleeper cells attack Beirut and Paris." Mikhail remarks and then holds a paper talisman on each hand. He draws a line on the dusty floor in front of him and says, "Try me, you bastard."

He places his left hand behind his back and raises his right hand in a come-hither gesture. Twirling his index finger counterclockwise, Percy smirks and they initiate plan C, 'a distracted suit hammered from his flanks'.

Mikhail walks forward and uses the first talisman to absorb the incoming wider pulse of magic coming at him. Three origami cranes are left and he uses those to take the next three blasts.

His eyebrows furrow when he notices two approaching blurs from the remains of the box going for their enemy's leg.

" _Fuck, they made it an exosuit!"_ Mikhail exclaims within himself, using a second talisman to absorb another blow. Percy manages to destroy one with his cane, but Harun misses his shot when another pulse clips his left leg.

"Two down," the bald leader mocks as the remaining leg attachment connects to become a magical exoskeleton.

Mikhail dodges to the right and starts circling the enemy. He notices Percy disappear and he smirks, taking his wand and going on the offensive, tossing a bag full of marbles at his opponent and it explodes in midair, blinding their target. Percy then slaps a small slab of red semtex with a small magical electric fuse in the middle of it.

The bald leader kicks forward and a bit of blue flame propels him towards Mikhail, who is five meters away. Percy nods and presses the trigger rune. A second later, the semtex explodes and destroys the suit.

Mikhail gives the bald leader a cold look and backhands him in the face before slapping a talisman on his head. "Help me clear this up, Harun," he remarks while placing a numbing charm on Harun's banged up leg. The Scarlet Pimpernel carries an unconscious Katherine and places her on a nearby bench.

Mikhail hisses, "Now I really want to kick the bastard in the balls now. But besides this, good job still." Harun and the Scarlet Pimpernel give him a thoughtful look and nod.

"I'll be working with you guys soon." Percy remarks and disappears after they finish with the repairs and securing the stunned and captured men. Mikhail places a talisman on each of their heads and they begin to hop behind Mikhail to go back to the Naxos HQ. He is pensive, carrying Katherine with him. _"She's going to be pissed off at cue ball when she wakes up."_


	15. Chapter 15

_November 17, 2015_

_Lethifold Division – Enjolras Residence_

"Hi Oracle, it's Muninn hovering in. What's the status there?" Apolline asks, as Eponine sees her and her husband's visage on a smaller hologram. Eponine looks around and sees every area busy with either fabricating more armor or gushing over Courfeyrac's and Hermione's new toy. Given their little problem seeing inside buildings and rooms, this particular toy combines a sonic pulse spell and uses the rebounding sonar waves to create a 3D map of a particular interior or anywhere they want to have a clear view of the enemy.

"All systems go. We even have a new toy besides the zap-around, thanks to Hermione's mastery of theory and spellwork, along with Courfeyrac's fabrication skills. It's called the sonar pulse and with it, I can really have a near god's eyes view of the battlefield." Eponine replies with a look of sheer pride on her countenance. However, it disappears just as quickly after she whispers, "Is the travel block still up?"

Louis rubs his chin for a moment before he responds, "Odin will give the all clear a day after tomorrow since some of the suspects have been caught but the hunt still goes on."

Eponine nods and she spots her husband Auguste walk towards them with a box marked from the French Department of Mysteries and Research.

"We've gotten everyone a pin badge so everyone can travel around." Apolline remarks, as Auguste kisses Eponine's cheek and hands her a badge.

"Let me handle giving this out for now. Do you want me to gather everyone here?"

"Yes please, Auguste. Don't forget to place the original set up back into a round table meet." Epoinine replies and she turns her attention back to the Delacours. "Harry, Luna, Hermione and Ron would love the news in coming."

"They've been looking forward to it for two days now. They could barely stay still and have been drowning themselves in work." Eponine quips. She pauses to tub her tummy when she feels Ian kick, "Looks like even Ian is excited for them."

"Anyway, we've received reports that the ICW team assigned to the Aegean caught most of the delivery team. They had the Scarlet Pimpernel and their volunteer have also assisted. Based on the accounts from Mikhail Chung, the second suit has a lower part that has propulsion capabilities. Katherine Watson will head the investigation part soon enough. They have a lead on Istanbul's Bazaar of Magic. We're coordinating with them and will give you as much information as we can." Apolline explains to Eponine, who acknowledges it and smiles softly.

"Our turn to take the fight to them," Eponine declares with a steely-eyed glint in her eye.

"We'll bring them to justice, not vengeance. They do not deserve our hatred." Louis states and Eponine changes the display to full sized hologlobe again.

Apolline shrugs in amusement of being put in the spot like that, but decides to take it in stride. Turning her focus to the Lethifold Division team, she announces, "I'd have to say take a few hours off after this particular bit of news. It seems our enemy is set on sending his weapon back to France after our first interception. The latest operation conducted in Naxos was successful in capturing most of the enemies, but there is one woman who escaped via portkey and masked her later travel with the Apparation traffic in Athens."

"Why do I get you have a bit more information there?" Luna interjects and Apolline replies, "They have added a rocket-like system on the legs. The suit has been turned into an exoskeleton as mundanes would call it."

"With this latest development, we're giving you these badges so you can travel outside of Paris again. We have two days to take advantage in gathering more information. That's it for us for now, team. We're signing off." Louis remarks and the hologlobe disappears.

Harry lights up at the news, but Luna remains pensive. She leans closer to Harry and shares, "I'll only be seeing Lily for a short while because I have to get back here earlier to get the job done. Something isn't right." Her husband looks straight into her eyes and whispers, "Let's make the most of our little reprieve. Once you come back, then I'll go back with you. Ron and Hermione will have to keep the cover for now. The transport blocks must have driven my best friends nuts too."

Luna holds his hand and leans closer. "Do you remember seeing the Eiffel tower with me last night?"

Harry grasps his wife's hand and a wisp of a smile appears on his lips. "It was the best thing to see people coming together. It reminds me of how we were after the second Voldemort war."

_November 16, 2015_

_Ferry service by the River Seine – Evening Time_

Harry and Luna finds themselves separated from the group in the evening. Hermione's voice could be heard panicking through their bandage communicator.

"Has she always been this noisy when she worries about something?" Luna asks, as she enjoys the scenery of Paris.

"Yes, she can be quite passionate about her ideas, goals and people she cares about." Harry replies while amused by his wife's question.

Luna shrugs and quips, "I suppose so. I wish she was a Ravenclaw though. It would have been nice to have company, even if she argues with me all the time. She mellowed down after the Crumple Horned Snorkack article came out." Her lips paint a triumphant smirk at finally being proven right besides the Deathly Hallows.

Harry lets his left hand caress Luna's right forearm before grasping her hand. He looks up and sees the Eiffel Tower lit up with the colors of the French Flag.

"Liberté , Égalité, and Fraternité, symbolized by the Blue, White and Red colors on their flag. I just realized something. I think I saw Auguste with the Sorbonne barricades a few years back after the war. They were fighting for equal rights for muggleborns, squibs, half-bloods and purebloods. The Auror office then almost had them at a breach but the ICW came down to stop the bloodshed and demand the reforms. They didn't want a repeat of another Voldemort or Grindelwald so early in the recovery process."

Harry agrees with Luna's assessment and adds, "I confirmed it. I was there with the ICW group, but I didn't manage to talk to the barricading students. Madame Maxime was fidgeting ever so often during the wait because she feels just as strongly for her students. She begged me to go with the ICW team. I couldn't refuse and now, here we are on one of the craziest missions I've ever had as a rogue agent."

"Life is crazy Harry. People who want normal lives are just asking for trouble." Luna mutters in amusement, as she touches Harry's forehead with her right hand, before trailing her fingertips down to his neck, to his shoulders, and rests at his nape. With her other arm now secure in a hug on Harry, she looks intently at him and wets her lips.

"We would have fun seeing Paris." She inches closer and her lips touch Harry's lips. A gentle peck on the lips, "We're definitely in need of a nargle cleaning soon."

Harry chuckles at her words, while watching the lit Eiffel Tower as their boat moves father away.

Two shadows appear behind them and as Luna and Harry look up, they see Ron and Hermione with excited smiles on their face. "Are you two ready to go?" Hermione asks.

"Ready as I'll ever be. I already miss Lily Luna." Harry replies, as both Potters get up from their chairs. Auguste gives them a meaningful look and playfully smirks at them. He mouths the words, "Family matters. Go already."

He lets out a chuckle after seeing the Ron come through the cabinet and seals it behind them.

_November 17, 2015_

_Granger Residence – Brisbane Australia_

Ron comes out of the tent and goes down to the house from the attic. Hugo and Lily are playing catch with a quaffle charmed to look like basketball and three practice hoops outside in the garden.

Hermione gives Ron a warm hug and says, "Glad we made it out. I badly missed Hugo, Ron." Ron embraces her tightly and remarks, "The world has gone crazier, even without Voldemort in the mix."

Spotting his father, Hugo passes the quaffle to Lily and runs to Ron. "We had fun in the park. We actually saw a couple of people flying with brooms there and almost ran into a spot of trouble with someone. I think he was one of the Obliviators here. Grandpa was cool because he dodged it a bit and gave the guy a leg sweep and said, 'I know about your world. I'll tell my daughter Hermione about this.' He got scared when he heard your name and apologized profusely afterwards."

Ron let out a chuckle and Hermione covered her face with her left palm in exasperation.

"Looks like Hugo told you about the scuffle I had with one of the magicals here." Rupert comments from the door and Hermione exclaims, "Daddy!" before quickly makes his way to her father and gives him a hug as well. Hugo, on the other hand, goes back outside to play with Lily, who is joined by Harry and Luna on the Quaffle catch and shoot around.

"You've been an idiot trying to face the guy down."

"I only allowed you to touch my memory because your mother and I know the risks you're going to go through a few years back. No one else if I can help it," Rupert explains.

Hermione looks pensive for a moment and bites her lip. She gives Ron a meaningful look and asks, "would it be alright if we take a breather here for now. Our mission and the aftermath have been horrible."

Rupert gives Hermione and Ron a calm look before responding, "Alright, you can. Your mother and I have been worried sick. How about Harry, Luna, and Lily, are they taking a break too?"

Ron shakes his head and ponders out loud, "Knowing my best mate, he wouldn't want to stay in the sidelines. He'd give you the shirt on his back even before you ask for it."

Rupert nods and heads out to bring Hermione and Ron to the garden.

A few minutes before, while his best friends are vaguely discussing events at the Lethifold Division in Paris, Harry and Luna take a seat and watch over Lily play with the quaffle and shooting it on the hoops.

"Are you going back, Luna love?"

"I am. I think Algiz Warders and Research Industries may have a hand in the magically powered suits the squib extremists are getting their hands on. Only problem is, they're pretty good at keeping their paper trail clean as a whistle. There are other runemasters in some countries like in Bulgaria, Japan, India or the Philippines, but I'm sure there is less motivation for them to be involved. Jehan has some leads that we'll sift through when I get back." Luna answers and leans her head on Harry's shoulder.

"I'll be going back, but I think Hermione and Ron will take a break for now."

Luna sighs and mutters, "I can't blame them, but we both know that if don't stop it and find the mastermind, we'll be seeing these terrorists wreak havoc in the continent and our isles."

Harry holds Luna's hand gently and he whispers, "If you go, I'll go." Luna gives him a smile and she gives him a peck on the lips. "I know you would. You're a good person, Harry."

In the midst of a dinner in the garden during dinner, Harry kisses Lily's on the forehead before getting everyone's attention. "I will be going back to France in the morning."

Ron glances at Hermione and sees the resignation in her eyes. He places a thumb on the back of her hand and he remarks, "Hermione and I will be staying for a while. I," Ron pauses to take a moment to compose himself, "after two nights ago, we would like a breather before coming back. I'll be teaching these two the ropes in Quidditch after all."

Harry gives him a ready smile and Luna adds, "Lily, you stick to your uncle Ron, your aunt Hermione, and her parents for now, ok?"

Lily tilts her head to the right side and smiles softly at Luna. _'It looks like she understands why now. I'm blessed to have her.'_ Luna tells herself just by the tilting of Lily's head. She does that too after all.

"Just be careful. I'll wait for you here." Lily replies with her smile turning into a grin. "You and daddy pinkie promise?"

"Pinkie promise, Lily." Harry replies as he wraps his pinkie with Lily's left and Luna's pinker with Lily's right.

Glancing at Emma, Hermione, Ron and Rupert, Harry sees the warmth of the gesture and only two words comes to mind, _'For family'_

After that, Hugo regales them with his story of a wayward duckling that he and Lily helped out yesterday.


	16. Chapter 16

_November 18, 2015_

_Trafalgar Square – London, England_

Zach Smith sits comfortably on the side of one of the fountains at Trafalgar Square. He sees the sunrise hit the top of Nelson's column and he lets out an impatient sigh, "What's taking Max so long?"

He feels someone tap him on the shoulder and finds Maximillian D'Artagan standing beside him, wearing a light grey hoodie, worn trainers, and matching dark grey jogging pants. "Surprised? Whenever I'm here, I like to take a run here, that's why I wanted to meet you here."

Max sits down and mutters, "No wonder you used a notice-me-not charm. You're wearing those wizarding robes you're used to." He stretches out a bit and Zach notices it's a Holyhead Harpies hoodie he's wearing.

"You didn't seem to be someone who watches quidditch at first glance." Zach comments, while watching the quiet Trafalgar Square slowly becoming lively with more people coming in.

Max lets out a chuckle and remarks, "Normally I don't, but I have fun with some of the female players." He smirks at the thought of Ginny still sleeping in his studio suite room right now at the Amba Hotel. Of course, the thought of his visitor reminds him of what he needed to ask Zach.

"So, any recent requests for portkey travel in Australia?" Max flippantly asks, while closing his eyes for the colder morning.

Zach stiffens at the question, but still decides to answer, "Well, the Potters and Weasleys tried to be discrete about it but nothing department related gets past me. I suppose they're still there. They must like the warmer weather really."

Maximillian decides to keep the information to himself and shelves it in his mind palace, on the notepad underneath his first diamond-tipped carving set that he still uses up to this day for small projects.

"Thanks for your time. You'd better get back to your office."

Zach shakes Maximillian's hand and heads off to the Charing Cross station in the London Underground.

Maximillian stretches his arms up high and goes back to running again. He takes around three laps around Trafalgar Square and chuckles at seeing London's Police Station just as he is warming down from the jog.

He spots someone who is waving at him underneath Nelson's Column and he briskly makes his way through. As he is getting closer, he can see it was his brunette employee from A.W.R.I., his lead researcher.

"Nice to see you here boss." The woman greets Max and gives him a quick look from head to toe. Max only smirks contentedly at her and then says, "You know you can always take up my offer, Mira. All you have to do is ask."

Mira smacks her boss' arm and chides him, "The moment I hate my job and quit is the moment I'll take you up on that stupid offer of yours. As it is, I'm happy to report that my vacation is finished, but it did end abruptly."

Max's eyes narrow and he gestures for her to follow him through Duncannon Street, instead of the Strand's straightforward route.

"What do you mean ended abruptly?" Max hisses, but does not faze Mira.

She squares her shoulders and replies, "your pet project was intercepted at Naxos by four people, one of which is the Scarlet Pimpernel. I managed to portkey out while that cocky bastard of a squib from the extremist group distracted them. I'm actually pissed about it because we did two days on the foot propulsion and another day to connect it to the power code in the chest."

Max shakes his head in disbelief, "If you want something done right, you'll have to do it yourself. I'm going to Turkey to set things up a few days from now. I'll be moving operations into our new facility in the Libyan area of the Sahara Desert within the next two days."

The researcher finds herself in front of the Amba Hotel with Maximillian after a few quiet minutes walking. "Just let me know the next step. I'll be eager to help you out." She whispers before leaving Max and going to the nearest Appartion point.

Maximillian's calm façade changes as he gets back to his studio suite. _'It looks like I have to go to Greece now. I need that suit fitted up and fixed in my personal laboratory.'_ He scowls at the thought but removes it as he enters the room to see Ginny all suited up.

"I got afternoon practice, Max. I'll see you soon." Ginny greets him with a soft kiss and a smirk before apparating away.

"I'll see you soon as well," Max says fondly at Ginny just as she disappears from the room. "I better get to the bottom of this. The Avada Project is reliant on the delivery's success. If only it wasn't so delicate to travel via floo or owl post, it would already be here by now." He slams his fist on the wooden coffee table and repairs it afterwards as he makes another plan to get the project running.

_November 18, 2015_

_ICW HQ – Naxos, Greece_

Feuilly smiles at seeing the beauty of the Aegean Sea in the villa and makeshift ICW HQ for the refugee crisis. He glances to his left and sees his partner in crime Courfeyrac talk with Mikhail about the magic behind the rice paper talisman sticking on top of the bald guy's forehead.

" _I promised myself I would see the sea and now here I am, enjoying the view."_ He tells himself, as they hear the sound of heavy steel-toe bots arriving. The bald man sitting down on the floor suddenly yelps and encloses himself in a fetal position.

"I didn't do that!" Mikhail exclaims under the cynical eye of Courfeyrac.

The curtain parts and Katherine walks in with the noisy weighty footwear causing the ruckus. She gives a venomous look at their captive, who curls in tighten. Feuilly overhears the words, "That ought to teach him to never backhand a woman ever again." The thought sends fearful shivers down his spine and winces at the implication.

Following her in are Harun, Harry and Auguste. "Gather round folks, we'd have to make this quick sadly."

She places in a rough sketch of the Bazaar of Magic beside the Blue Mosque. Taking out her wand, she places a crossmark on the farthest dead end of the alleyways.

Harun clears his throat and explains, "According to my eyes and ears there, a group is starting to move equipment from that location to somewhere in Libya. Not sure where exactly at the moment. However, we have reason to believe that the weapon prototypes are constructed there. We might have a break and some evidence to slam down the true culprit, and then capture the mastermind of the whole operation."

"Let's say we risk it? How do we minimize casualties in case things go south?" Harry brings it out for everyone's attention, "the Bazaar is a combination of small alleyways and aged walls. We'd have to hold back on our spell work so we don't have collateral damage on the families living there."

"We have a night to figure it out. Maybe those sonar pulses might help in this scenario. We can see the enemy before they can see us and we can pick them off, one by one with nearly colorless spells in the nighttime." Auguste suggests and Harry nods in approval of the idea.

Katherine looks at Feuilly and Courfeyrac next and asks, "Do you have any ideas on how to counter the white pulses without tossing too many talismans?"

"We have one," Feuilly remarks and takes out a small rectangular shield that can be attached on the arm. "We managed to reverse-engineered the talisman's concept after a few tries at modifying with the shield to absorb around three of those before needing to be taken out. A flaw we're unable to fix yet is to rebound spells, just like the one the first incarnation of the suit did to us."

Courfeyrac looks away for a moment and Auguste's face darkens at the very memory of being helpless. _'If it wasn't for Huginn and Muninn with the Potters and the Weasleys, I would only be a speck in the grounds of Parc de la Villete.'_

Harry locks eyes with Auguste and shakes his head, "don't dwell on it. We'll find a way to beat these guys."

Mikhail lets out a sigh and remarks, "I was stupid to assume I could take it on. If it wasn't for the Scarlet Pimpernel, I might have been dead last night." He looks guiltily at Katherine, who shrugs it off and points to the captured team leader.

"I'm hope you have seen the error of your ways." Katherine stomps her left leg with a vengeful smirk and sees the bald leader cower closer into his fetal ball of fear, "especially since I made that guy see the error of his."

All the men in attendance let out an involuntary shiver at the display.

"We conduct the mission tomorrow?" Harry asks, getting back the discussions to topic.

Everyone nods in assent, before Mikhail asks, "will we send in the Lethifold Division?"

Auguste looks at everyone for a moment before placing something that oddly looks like a tablet PC. A moment later, a lady's face appears in a hologram form to the surprise of Harun, Katherine and Mikhail.

"Good afternoon, ICW team. I am Eponine Enjolras and I'm the command hub officer of the Lethifold Division. We are ready to help you out tomorrow."

Harun opens his mouth to speak, but Katherine cuts him off with a raised hand, "What type of help do you offer us? We aren't aware of any government entity that can help thousands of miles away from the battlefield at near instantaneous speeds."

Eponine contemplates her answer for a moment. She decides they could be trusted after seeing Auguste and Harry give their nods from behind Mikhail. "We are an independent counter-terrorist group of volunteers. Our team has means of having a bird's eye view of any given battlefield as long as it isn't covered by structures. And in the event that the problem is happening in a building, we have made a way around it."

Mikhail's focuses on the statement, but feels he needs more proof. "Can show us where we are standing right now in your so-called bird's eye view?"

Eponine bristles at his question, but proceeds. She disappears from the hologram and is instead replaces by everyone in the Naxos base in real time, with Harry pacing left and right from a view above. Harun looks up and the ICW duo's faces lit up in amazement in seeing the motion first hand.

"I was about to say what sorcery is this, but that would sound too nerdy even for me. Care to share the secret then?" Katherine wonders and Eponine's image comes back with a smirk. "Sorry, it's a trade secret."

' _More like one of the most blatant infractions of the Statute of Secrecy.'_ Eponine tells herself from their HQ. "Since the magic show is over kiddies, let's discuss details."

"Agreed," Mikhail and Katherine respond and they begin to plan out the excursion on Harun's 'floor plan' of Istanbul's Bazaar of Magic.


	17. Chapter 17

_November 19, 2015_

_The Wizarding Times – Diagon Alley_

Marguerite is working on her headline about the pending price increase of Asian Dragon Hair, Chinese Chomping Cabbage and other goods from the east because of the mundane terrorist attacks in Beirut, Lebanon that preceded Paris by a day. With her attention focused on her work, she fails to notice someone knocking and the opening of her door.

A few quick and quiet steps, the man behind her leans to her left side and give her a soft peck on the cheek. "I missed you."

"Percy!" Marguerite exclaims, as she stands up abruptly and hits him on his right arm, before pulling him close and looking intently in his eyes. She flicks her wand to close the door behind her and inches closer to his lips until she meets his own.

The warmth within her body slowly melts her resolve and worry for the past few days during the kiss. Percy replies in kind, holding her tight in his arms.

Marguerite unconsciously lets out a growl from her throat, but Percy takes a moment for a breather.

Composing herself, Marguerite fixes the front of her robes for any creases and remarks, "You owe me later, Percy. We aren't done here yet."

Percy lets out a soft chuckle and replies, "I'm looking forward to it but," Percy's face slowly turns serious, "I have news on the exosuits going into France. Looks like the ICW is going to conduct a mission in Istanbul soon, but I have a suspicion that the enemy might know the ICW is on to them because someone escaped the interception."

"Are there any casualties from our side?"

"Just a few bumps, bruises and near misses mostly, nothing serious. Also, your detonator worked like a charm." Percy updates her and Marguerite frowns, "You used the semtex?"

"I had to, best time to do it really because Mikhail distracted the leader. I'm afraid the prototypes they're making are improving by leaps and bounds since they now have rocket boosters on their feet."

Marguerite pinches the bridge of her nose in annoyance and lets the frustration go for now. "Still, did my enchantments pass muster against their guns?"

Percy gives her a warm smile and replies, "held up like a charm, my love."

"That is good to know, Percy. I've never tested for gunfire before" Marguerite breathes a sigh of relief, "I'll still renew the magic on it though. I bet they got annoyed with you getting past their wards so effortlessly."

"It's fun to realize that normal ward magic has a loophole by having the Scarlet cloak match the ward frequency of the common and not so common wards. Pity, I still can't get past the custom ones." Percy marvels at the cloak even after all these years of using his wife's modifications.

"Oh, there is one more thing, Percy. I sent 5,000 galleons to Kwickspell yesterday, just as you asked. They're rather grateful for it." Marguerite informs him while she clears up her desk.

Percy nods and grins at the thought of the Squib assistance group. "I owe them a lot for learning the silencing spell and a few other basic spells I could do with my cane. They aren't powerful or even decent sometimes, but I've learned that timing is everything when fighting. Skill trumps power most of the time."

Marguerite lets her eyes become pensive and vulnerable for her husband to see. "Stay safe on those missions, alright?" she requests and casts one or two more spells on the door along with barricading it with one of her spare desks. "Now enough talk, I've been worried sick about you for a couple of days now. After this, I'll give you my findings on Algiz." She tugs him closer by his collar and then pounces on her surprised husband.

_Lethifold Division HQ –Paris, France_

"Signal test, one, two and three, can you hear me Watson?" Eponine tests the audio and video transmission to the ICW area in Naxos.

Katherine hisses, "Quit calling me Watson, you aren't Sherlock Holmes." It earns them a chuckle from Marius and Euphrasie.

"It really looks like my sister likes her, Auguste." Gavroche remarks and nudges his brother-in-law in the ribs.

"You're being an idiot, Gavroche." Auguste comments with amusement in his tone.

"If I could borrow a British term with the mundane folks, well no shit Sherlock, but you might as well answer with a yes or no. I suppose that's obvious enough." Eponine retorts with a smirk evident on her lips and pleased that Katherine is slightly annoyed at her.

"Let's get on with it Oracle, just as long as you don't go Trelawney on me." Katherine retorts with a smirk of her own, before placing the bandage communicator near her right ear.

Eponine clears her throat and gives them an accurate look of the mission site in the Bazaar of Magic through the hologram. "Now, according to the information Harun has provided, this one is the building we're going for." She then highlights the building with her wand and makes it crimson.

"There are three possible routes in, but we're not going to separate. Two of those routes don't have much cover, but this one has."

She highlights the route in royal blue and she says, "However, we only have ten minutes to clear out of the site if we are forced to cast spells because it's too near to an auror station."

"I thought Aurors pop in through from their Ministry?" Harry inputs, which earns curious looks from Gavroche, Euphrasie and Auguste as well.

"Normally they would, but according to information I've gotten from the Scarlet Pimpernel in an owl post through Huginn and Muninn, the Turkish Ministry of magic spreads their aurors around because of the vastness of the country. Centralizing the office would mean having to expend too much magical energy coming to and fro from Ankara. France nearly does the same thing, but we just do two launch-off points and the portkey pictures help as well."

Harry nods and shivers at the thought of having to do a fight in Glasgow or any place above the Antonine wall while having to come in from England. "That was handy having that during me and Lily's tour of Paris. I'll suggest it to Kingsley when I get back."

"Anyway, I wish all of you luck. Now head on out and let's do this." Eponine buzzes out of the hologram and listens in.

"Time to hold the rope guys," Mikhail says, glancing at the people with him. He sees the resolution in the eyes of Harry, Auguste, Euphrasie, Gavroche, Harun and Katherine. _'If I was our enemy, I'd be quaking in my boots.'_ His thoughts went as they portkeyed into Istanbul.

_Bazaar of Magic – Istanbul, Turkey_

The group appears in a deserted alleyway in the Bazaar. The moonlight beams down on the paths around them and everything is quiet, not a single soul in sight.

Harun's features exude nostalgia at his first true home. He spots the street corner where he met first met Dumbledore, the corner shop where the best magical Doner Kebab shop in the bazaar can be found, and his little homestead, where a kind old couple took him in and they all slept on the matted floor to make ends meet. _'Time to focus,'_ he chides himself and proceeds to follow the team ahead of him. Mikhail is on point.

"Head on straight, but I see two guys on post. Best to knock them out with something near transparent." Eponine says, watching the scene.

Mikhail raises his right hand and turns it into a fist. Everyone halts but keep their wands trained on the open areas while they stick to the nearby plaster wall to their left. Mikhail brings out two cranes and let them fly through the shadows and land on top of the men before giving them a knocking out through an electric charge.

Seeing the two men down, they head towards them rapidly and secure the three alleyway entrances. Gavroche and Euphrasie roll the men to the side, while Katherine taps into checking the enchantments on the door. Finding none, they bust in and find three men letting loose a barrage of muffled gunfire in the narrow corridor. Harry tosses in a sonar pulse inside and Eponine says, "There are only three men in there, looks like they're about to reload their guns. You have eight minutes to get out of there and back into the alley way you came in."

Auguste hisses in annoyance, but Gavroche stops all of them by saying, "light up the area with sparks and sounds, I'll toss in my improved zap-around.

Harun is about to ask what it was but decides against it for now. "On my signal," Mikhail says, "Go!" The team lets the spell fly and Gavroche gets into position. With the defenders disoriented, Gav throws the device and a moment later, a loud zapping sound is heard from inside. Gav jumps in ahead of everyone and three ropes later, they have three more incapacitated men.

Everyone follows suit and Euphrasie throws another sonic pulse further in. "All clear, head on to the door in the end. Five minutes"

Katherine opens it and finds a small letter on the floor with the magically enlarged room devoid of any equipment of people. She grabs it with a dragon hide glove and signals everyone to run into the extraction point.

Brooms are starting to fly into the skies above them and their loud footsteps wake most of the populace from their beds. Their darker cloaks make them blend in the shadows more, while their raised hoods conceal their faces. A stunner clips Katherine's cloak but it bounces right off the reinforced dragonhide. She fires back with a non-verbal _vertexis_ which sends the lead flying reeling back.

The team takes a left and finds their rope still there for extraction. "Hold on!" Mikhail shouts and everyone grabs a piece of the rope before popping out. Another portkey is on their landing spot in Bodrum and they take that too, back to ICW HQ.

"Damn! Not a single thing!" Auguste thunders, slamming his fist on the table. Harry's eyes are pensive, as Courfeyrac, Marius and Feuilly come out of the makeshift production area they have and check on their friends' progress.

"There is one thing. There are no spells or traps that Mikhail and I found on this letter." Katherine remarks, placing it on the table that Auguste just punched. Eponine's hologram appears on the tablet there as well and her face shows forlorn resignation.

"Stop being so glum, we had one of the best missions any team can possibly have. No casualties, no injuries and text book execution. I've been through worse shit than this." Mikhail opens up and his eyes turn downcast. Katherine places a comforting hand on his shoulder and shakes her head, "I remember seeing you after that one. Don't think about it."

Mikhail shakes his head and as he takes a glance at everyone around the room, he sees the sadness in all their eyes looking at him. "It was charging through a vampire's nest in Armenia. A rogue coven started to breed out of control and we had to put them down. A seventeen person team of some of ICWs finest and only I returned alive, bloodied and magically exhausted. We finished the mission to the skin of our teeth and I had to put my friends down with fiendfyre as they turned." Staring straight into Auguste's eyes, he steels himself from the imposing legend of the French Auror corps. "We found something. It's a start, so stop beating yourself over it."

Marius looks thoughtful and realizes something, "Are you the operative who spat in the face of the Supreme Mugwump two years back when he was about to award you a medal?"

Mikhail smirks and replies, "I made it extra heavy for him because my team leader asked for fifty wands and all of us fully armored to go in there but only gave seventeen with dragonhide cloaks. That's why I was tossed in to this catch and release Aegean mission with the only person who can work with me, Katherine."

"Stop being such a baby, Mikhail." Katherine playfully quips in her attempt to lighten the mood, but only mildly succeeds.

Harry walks up to them and says, "So let's open this letter and see what it has." He takes the letter from the table, gives Mikhail a meaningful look and reads it out loud.

_H &M _

_Shield moving things forward with Avada too fast now after Naxos intercept._

_You'll hear from me soon._

_Cet_

"Must be for Huginn and Muninn then," Eponine suggests and from her desk in the Lethifold Division, she casts her swallow patronus and sends it to Louis and Apolline Delacour. Turning her attention to Auguste, she says, "We're getting closer, just focus for now." She gives him a soft smile before ending the transmission.

Mikhail sees another alarm go off for magical refugees arriving to Kos, Greece. "Want to help us? It looks like it's a larger wave for tonight."

"Definitely," Harry says and sees Harun, Marius, Azelma, Courfeyrac and Feuilly gear up. Katherine shakes her head and excuses herself from this one. "I'll rest with these guys. Someone has to keep our 'guests' fed and comfortable at least."

As Harry and their makeshift team apparate away, Auguste is left alone, brooding at the beautiful sea before him. "We did good, but why do I feel we're going to get a horrible mission next."


	18. Chapter 18

_November 20, 2015_

_Rue d'Or café at Rue de la Magie, Paris, France_

Luna sits down and a smile lines her face as she hears back from Harry being safe. Her glass of warm milk with strawberry slices and a bit of honey sits next to Jehan's glass of bourbon. Both of them look at the door and drink their respective refreshments in sync.

Jehan plants a palm on his face for the sheer weirdness of what he just did.

"You do know you were off by two millimeters, Jehan? If you're going to copy me just to understand my quirks, you need to work at it." Luna quips and wipes the traces of milk on her upper lip with a napkin. Guillame gives her a thumbs-up in amusement. "At least Azelma got it right on second try and now we can do things like a ballet already."

Jehan shakes his head in exasperation but doesn't utter a word.

Luna leans her head to her left and looks closer at Jehan, "We are meeting Marguerite today. They might have some information on the thing we're working on. Now, can you stay with the program here, or was that channel? I never did get the hang of that mundane expression to be honest."

Jehan loses it and chuckles at Luna's antics. Luna joins in a moment later, "I never thought trying to act like the mundane stereotype of a ditzy blonde is hard work. I much prefer discussing the Crumple-Horned Snorkack that Mr. Scamander found recently."

"That's what you get for taking that dare," Jehan retorts with a smirk. Luna merely raises an eyebrow and responds, "and I know you enjoyed trying to imitate me."

"It was definitely fun," Jehan says and sees Marguerite and Percy walking together towards the window end of the corner of the café.

"Glad you two can make it." Marguerite greets them, and Percy fixes his collar and cravat this time, before taking a seat.

Guillame flicks his wand and the curtains close. Marguerite, Luna and Jehan start to cast more privacy charms around until it felt like they are inside a Gringotts vault.

"I suppose you're here to contact the Scarlet Pimpernel for us. Marguerite, do you and the Scarlet Pimpernel have any information they would like to share?" Luna decides to ask directly to the Blakeneys.

Percy smiles approvingly and takes out a piece of paper. "Before you even ask, I prefer my note taking in paper, no need to use the magic of the animal skin for enchantments." He doesn't look up but Jehan is slightly dumbstruck at him.

"Well, from what we've gathered at the moment, we found out that the project name is called the Avada Project by Algiz Warders and Research Industries. They're currently moving a third package through Egypt and its eventual destination is a project facility in the Libyan Desert. Most of the details are muddled, but from what the Pimpernel saw, they're building a squad of these magically armored squibs to fight the war for those ISIS extremists." Percy explains, earning the shocked looks from Luna and Jehan.

"Also, I've received a tip from one of my friends in the British Ministry that someone has been looking into the Potter and Weasley travel files. We'll try to nail him down, but we need to make this a simultaneous effort. Another thing is that we suspect Maximillian D' Artagan of involvement or even masterminding the weapon shipments, but we don't have any proof to link him in this because for all we know, the Turkish, Egyptian and Libyan satellite offices are in consort independent of him." Marguerite tempers down their expectations, just as Luna is about to say something of that nature.

Both Luna and Jehan take their deep breaths before Jehan responds, "Considering we got our asses handed down to us by the first version of the suit, we'd like to ask if you could tell the Scarlet Pimpernel to be there too. According to the ICW folks, Harun volunteered to handle the retrievals of magicals and they'll be slugging it out with us. The Lethifold division gang will all be there, sans two from the Hogwarts visitors."

Marguerite looks meaningfully at Luna and asks, "Are you going to sit this one out?"

Luna's dreamy expression disappears and her steely-eyed self appears before them. "No, Harry and I will join the strike team. We're doing this for Lily Luna and our new found friends here in Paris."

Percy beams at Luna's determination and remarks, "I'm sure the Scarlet Pimpernel will be there. If you find any information where they'll be transporting their weaponry through, don't hesitate to use this. He told me to give it to you." He hands Luna and Jehan a small Scarlet Pimpernel picture embossed in a tile. "He said to press on the flower design on it for three seconds and then say what you information you'd like to share."

Luna nods in understanding and Jehan takes the tiles, handing one to Luna. "Good to know he might be there. We'll let you know if we find anything." Turning his attention to Marguerite, Jehan asks, "Any other information on your end?"

Marguerite shakes her head and replies, "Sorry, that's all we have for now." Percy gestures for them to go and assists his wife with her chair. He beams at Luna and Jehan, replying with "thanks" before Maguerite pulls down the wards and they exit from the curtain.

"Let's head on back to HQ as well." Luna suggests and they apparate out outside the café after leaving some galleons and a generous tip for their drinks.

_Palais-Royal - Paris, France_

Inside the _Jardin du Palais Royal_ , Apolline holds Louis' hand with a gleeful smile on her lips. The gentlemen passing by drop their bags and a teenager nearly bumps into an old lady as they all glanced at Apolline in awe. She decides to keep her occulumency shields down just for a bit of fun. Louis chuckles at her antics and kisses her softly on the lips.

The two young ladies by one of the benches gush in delight at seeing the Delacours still as sweet as newlyweds together.

"It always is nice to see our beloved city not be afraid." Louis remarks and Apolline replies, "We will never give them the satisfaction."

As they sit down on one of the benches underneath the rows of trees, Apolline begins to put her occulumens to use again along with Louis' notice-me-not charms. "You have any information on our old friend, Maximillian?"

"Sadly no, _mon amour_. He cut me off after an hour because he was meeting with one of the Russians, who need weapons to help that Syrian leader in their civil war. I almost forgot the fact that they also supply mundane firearms." Apolline replies and looks defeated at the thought.

"You've tried, that's the important thing. Speaking of which, another old friend asked us to meet her here for a chat." Louis remarks with a knowing gaze on his eyes.

Apolline smirks in understanding and whispers, "if she is who I think she is, I would love to catch up with her."

A woman of a mix of Arabian and French descent walks towards them, unnoticed by the mundane she passes by. Louis and Apolline locks eyes with her and she smiles fondly at them.

"Good to see you Apolline and Louis." The woman greets them and sits opposite them on the other row of trees with a foldable chair she pulls out from her small pouch.

"It's great to be here with our old friend Mira Haddad." Apolline remarks with a twinkle in her eyes for a moment before it disappears, "How are the folks in Beirut?"

Mira shakes her head at Apolline's concern and smiles back fondly, "Don't worry, they are fine and safe. Thank you for asking though." She takes out a small scroll from her pouch and hands it to Apolline. "I love my research work and creating the suit, but if Maximillian is doing what I think he is, he will sell them to the highest bidder. That I cannot allow, even if I have to destroy it. I don't have the means to do so though."

Louis scratches his chin in thought.

"I'll have to be cynical here, but why? There has to be a better reason why you want to destroy the end result of the Avada Project" Louis asks, earning him a glare from his wife.

"When I proposed that suit, it was supposed to be something squibs can use to use a wand, a gauntlet or a small arm band at its final incarnation. I felt a suit was the first step to that goal, but Max saw it differently. I had a lot of rune problems with the first prototype. He solved it all in two minutes flat whereas I created it and couldn't make headway for two years when those hiccups appeared. As you both know, I have a master's degree in three different rune disciplines and considered as one of the best Arithmancers from Durmstrang of this time and age, or so they say. It was humbling to see and experience for someone like me." Mira fidgets at the memory of being hopelessly outclassed.

"So now, I handle the logistics of sending all the machinery to the Libyan Desert after the last two intercepts and coordinating with the extremists squibs. Those mercenaries funded by those damned random warmongers." She shivers at the thought, "Anyway, all of it will be moving right about now in Egypt and will probably in the border area around the evening. I have to go, see you when I see you guys again." She stands up and casually walks away.

Apolline's eyes narrow and stares at Louis for a moment. "I don't trust her, something's off."

Louis nods and replies, "But we have no other lead. We can intercept, but it's up to the team if they're willing to walk into a trap. Even my gut feels tells me it's a trap. Look, we've trusted Mira for a decade now. She's a friend like Max was a friend before Mira literally pointed out that he's behind the weaponizing of those suits." He cups her wife's chin with his right hand and looks back meaningfully at her. "It's their call, but we'd share our reservations about this particular information."

Apolline blinks slowly in ascent, before caressing Louis' left cheek and letting out a soft coy smile. "Stop teasing and kiss me already." She mumbles and her husband complies. They both remove the wards and an American guy sees them. "Get a room!"

Louis breaks away slightly and looks at the guy, "Get a life and go away! I'm kissing my wife here!" It earns them chuckles from the other visitors, before obliging with another quick kiss.

Apolline gives a coy wink and tickles her husband on his sides before running around to get away. Louis chases his wife and catches her by the fountain in the middle of the gardens. "Let's call the kids and tell them to go already, so we can have a bit of fun. _Monsieur_ Delacour." A glint of seriousness appears in the corner of her eyes and he immediately knows what she meant.

"Definitely _Madame_ Delacour," Louis playfully replies, before they briskly walk away with their hands intertwined to the nearest apparition point in the Louvre museum. _"Time to break the news later to the kids,"_ They both tell themselves as they pop back to the Enjolras Residence.


	19. Chapter 19

_November 21, 2015_

_Lethifold Division HQ – Enjolras Residence_

Eponine's eyebrows are furrowed, as everyone is in the room. She takes a moment to survey the Chaos. Feuilly, Courfeyrac, Azelma, Jehan and Katherine are working double time to check if all the armor cloaks are set as well as the stock they have of sonar pulses and zap-around. Auguste, Euphrasie, Gavroche, Harry, Mikhail, Luna and Harun are working like a seamless unit fighting off practice dummies provided by Apolline and Louis. Joly and Combeferre are checking if the medical bay is well stocked. Their smiles explain it all that they can handle all comers. She shakes her head, _'I don't want to patch up Auguste anymore.'_

Meanwhile, Bahorel and Grantaire review all the details they have for the case they're preparing against Maximillian D'Artagan. "How in the bloody hell do we pull this off? Unless we catch him in the act of being there, we're screwed with this case."

Grantaire shakes his head and remarks, "Don't lose heart, Bahorel. We've already gotten him on treason in our courts and terrorism charges in the mundane court. Right now, M. Valjean is tapping into the available paper trails in Algiz's front company in the mundane world. So far, he's managed to backup the readily available electronic documents in various repositories he keeps."

"That is true," Bahorel muses, "I'm also studying the barristers they have on their pockets."

Grantaire gives him a questioning look before it changes to an amused one. "Who are you and what have you done to my partner in crime?"

"I'm just making sure that we'll pummel them to the ground for hurting our friends in _Parc de la Vilette_." Bahorel responds and they go back into taking notes in the information they've gotten from Jehan, Marguerite and Luna about AWRI and their various dealings in the magical world.

They all stopped when they heard a knock on the cabinet. Eponine halts all of them with a gesture of her raised hand and points her wand at the door. "Who are we fighting against?" She challenges and she hears, "the Corsairs that dared to wreak division in the lands of Charlemagne." A male voice adds, "And of course, the state of the Croissants."

Eponine looks at Enjolras with annoyance in her face. She mouths the word, "Croissants?" Auguste only gives her an amused smirk before she lets the two volunteers in.

"Marguerite St. Just!" Eponine exclaims and the two kiss each other on the cheeks.

"It's Blakeney to you now Eponine, but it's good to see you again." Marguerite replies with a nod, "You're getting nearer."

"Auguste and I are excited," She turns her attention to her companion, "And you are the Scarlet Pimpernel. It's good to know you're here to help."

Percy sees her offered right hand he shakes it firmly. "We shall do our best."

Everyone goes back to their preparations, as Maguerite and Eponine are joined by Luna. Percy takes her place in the warm up training.

"I'll be joining Harry on the field." Luna says with resolution in her eye which shocks Marguerite and earns a sigh from Eponine.

"I would love you here though." Eponine remarks, but Luna shakes her head. "Something tells me that I have to be there with the strike team." Luna takes out her butterbeer necklaces and puts it on.

"Don't even say it, Marguerite. I know what people say about the oddities." She adds before shaking her head in amusement and leaves the two to go back to training.

Marguerite leans closer to Eponine and both are amused with Luna. "Trust me, Luna may seem odd but for the past few days, one realizes she has a steady head on her shoulders."

Eponine nods and then says, "I'm sorry for calling you and the Scarlet Pimpernel on short notice. Our timeline as moved because of the information Huginn and Muninn provided us."

"So how about you tell me what caused it. I'm not refusing to help. I just want to know how urgent the problem really is."

"This is what happened last night in your meeting."

_Last night - Lethifold Division HQ_

Eponine is in the process of calling it a night when a quick buzz was heard around the room and the Delacours covers are Huginn and Muninn are present. " _Salut!_ Our apologies for this abrupt transmission, but this matter is terribly urgent. We've talked to Odin about the information shared to us by our insider and he said that he would never order anything that his people would not be willing to do. We are all volunteers wanting to keep Europe safe."

"What do you mean Huginn?"

"Even if our source is more or less reliable, we feel it's a trap. The only thing is that, we don't have any other leads. If it was up to me, I would never send any of you, but we're all a team." Louis replies, as he and Apolline see everyone gathered, save Ron and Hermione who are still in Australia with the kids. "It's your call."

Harry takes a glance at everyone present and then back to the two. "Huginn and Muninn, I'm going regardless. Could you give us the specifics of the information you've gotten?"

"Thank you. So according to our insider, the package is being transported to a facility in the Libyan Desert tonight. We've arranged portkey points around the Mediterranean, the Aegean and into the heart of Egypt itself west of Giza. We've removed most of the other possibilities where they'll travel and narrowed it down to the Siwa Oasis. Your last portkey stop would be at the Temple of the Oracle of Amun." Apolline explains with worry lining her voice.

Katherine gives a look of suspicion at the two and asks, "Are you saying that France's top brass has clandestine methods of sneaking to and fro most of the countries in the Mediterranean not authorized by the ICW?"

Louis retorts, "I'm not going to mince words. Yes, simply yes Katherine. We established that foothold since the time of Napoleon. We had to keep L'Empereur away from decisively winning every single fight by following him around and harassing him every now and then in his campaigns. He literally outgunned most of Europe and would have gotten to Asia if he wasn't so stupid as to charge like an idiot towards General Winter."

Mikhail sighs in exasperation and places a comforting hand on Katherine's shoulder. "Not my first rodeo. Every country has their glaring violations. So, who is behind this, Huginn and Muninn?"

Apolline clears her throat for a moment before replying, "We're certain that we are facing my old friend Maximillian D'Artagan." The collective gasps of bewilderment resonate in the room. "That's why we'll need the help of the Scarlet Pimpernel on this one as well. He knows the terrain better than even we are."

Auguste shakes his head to get the thought of fear to flee him, while steadying himself by holding Eponine's hand. "He's responsible for terrorizing our home. I cannot forgive this. I'm in with Harry."

Mikhail shrugs and remarks, "Sounds like a good way to Valhalla then. I'm going too." Katherine smacks him upside the head and adds, "If you're going, I'm going. We already are on vacation leave from the ICW since we requested off time after the last refugee extraction. We're in the clear. Harun?"

The two ICW folks turn their focus on Harun, who nods defiantly with a stern look on his face. "He's prolonging this war for profit. I can't let him continue."

The rest of the Amis looks to Eponine and Auguste and all voice out their agreement in joining in.

"It's settled then. I'll be contacting the Pimpernel." Louis remarks and Apolline says, "thank you." After which, they sign off for the night.

"No wonder we received it around the same night. At least they've got the travel plans set. But how do we transfer them all if something bad happens and we need them to evacuate here?"

Eponine gives her a Queen of spades card that is glowing in pulsing purple light. "A one-time use supercharged portkey. Huginn gave me fifty-two of these. Someone from the team gives me the signal and I pull the injured team out. Marius told me that the entire Department of Mysteries and Research is up in arms because of this. All their hard work goes to an unknown group. I can't say I can't blame them." She summons two glasses of apple cider and hands one to Marguerite. "You'll stay here?"

"Yes. I can fight, but I think I can help Bahorel and Grantaire more with additional sources and snitches." Marguerite gently leaves to let Eponine have her time alone.

Eponine nods and then closes her eyes while touching her tummy, "I don't know if you're listening, but please keep everyone safe."

_Later in the evening_

_Temple of the Oracle of Amun - Siwa Oasis, Egypt_

The series of portkeys leaves the team slightly worn. Harry manages to get his bearings first and gestures everyone to take a flask of restorative draught. He surveys the team with him. His wife, Auguste, Mikhail, Katherine, Marius, Euphrasie, Jehan, Azelma, Courfeyrac, Feuilly, Harun, Gavroche and the Scarlet Pimpernel are all accounted for and relatively ok from his standpoint.

"Is everyone alright?" Eponine asks through their communicators. She receives everyone's whispering and she sighs. "Looks like everyone arrived well enough. There's a group passing through around 50 meters from the hill the team is in with something that's emitting a large magical signature. Be careful."

"Auguste, Mikhail and Harun, stick with me. Luna and Marius, you two handle a team each and split off to flank them. One goes from the rear and one from the farther side of the hill. We'll provide the distraction." Harry remarks and everyone gears up, raising their hoods to stave off the biting cold Arabian night.

After a few minutes, Auguste taps the bandage on the side, "Is everyone in position from your vantage point, Eponine?"

Eponine survey's the field with Bahorel, Grantaire, Marguerite, Joly and Combeferre sitting together with her in the room and all anxious about the upcoming mission. "Twenty men, armed with Kalashnikovs, all have the gauntlets unlike from before. So far, they have not spotted your positions. Luna's team is on the rear and Marius' team is on the far side, right about now. Everyone, proceed with caution when ready to strike."

Auguste looks at Harry and he nods. Harry doesn't hesitate and starts the assault. Three rapid stunners hit the three on point.

Azelma, Euphrasie and Marius summon and transfigure granite walls from the large blocks still lying around. The rapping sounds of fully automatic AKs echo around the place while their bullets accurately at the walls. Explosive round eat through the makeshift walls, but Gavroche tosses his modified zap-around and catches five of the attackers off guard and stuns them with electric currents.

On Luna's end, Katherine and Luna send shockwaves spells to their aggressors while Courfeyrac and Feuilly decide to forgo their gadgets for now and stick to doing the same thing as Azelma, Euphrasie and Marius while Luna and Katherine switch from shockwave pressure to piercers and cutters.

Soon, the surround pressures their opponents to send in a rocket at Luna's position. She takes one careful aim and turns it into a rhino on her first try. Katherine confounds it to charge and hit the extremists. It manages to gore one before being felled.

As some of them reload, Mikhail let the cranes take charge and more end up falling. In what felt like five hours was only a five minute ambush. Only one is left.

The man in the ski mask locks eyes with Harry and then jumps to the crate with the suit.

Using his Holly wand, Harry flicks in a cutter and manages to rip off the head cover, just as the armor zooms fast towards the last one. A blinding blue flash disorients the gang and two energy blades appear on the sides of improved arms. It resembles a golem now, compared to the exoskeleton. The face of the man piloting shocks Auguste. "Maximillian!" Enjolras exclaims and dodges a heavier energy beam. The black cranes that beeline towards him get engulfed in black flame.

"I see the brat pack is here. It's time to demonstrate what I can really do." Max quips, launching a beam of off-white magic at Marius' team. The granite wall buys them time and buys the Thenadier siblings time to send another modified zap-around and apparate to Harry's team. The Pontmercys on the other hand went to Luna's team. "Spread out!" Katherine shouts, as her eyes darken and she fires a blood red cutting curse while running around.

Max parries it with his left blade and it cuts the sand nearby, turning the remains into fine desert glass. He quickly launches small needle like spells that explode around Harry's team. To his surprise, a pulsing blue shield appears. However the strength of the attack manages to fling their hoods backwards.

" _Mon Dieu!_ Harry Potter! I thought you were in Australia!"Max exclaims, deflecting a barrage from Katherine, Feuilly and Courfeyrac. Two zap-arounds follow through, but Max captures it without looking with an Algiz Rune hastily drawn in the air. He glances for a moment and then smirks, before the toys zoom back towards them. Luna jumps forward and barely misses the detonation. "Oracle, remove the downed ones." Luna shouts, as she runs sideways on the hill. She manages to take advantage of the high ground, taking potshots at the armor to distract.

The glowing purple cards activate and the downed team mates appear in the middle of Lethifold Division HQ, being rushed and levitated on the beds.

Harry, Auguste, Mikhail, Marius, Azelma, Gavroche and Harun decide to take advantage of the distraction and cast their own brands of nastiness at the suit. A combination of cutting paper talismans, a blood red spell, acid, lightning and ice lances rush towards Maximillian's position.

The rune master merely smirks, as his leg attachments lit up. He flies off before being hit and returns with a charged bomb launched at them.

"Damn it, Auguste and Harry! Fall back!"

The purple playing cards start to light up, but Harry feels the vibration of the Elder Wand crying out to block the magic. As his hand touches it, it flies off the holster and creates an overpowered mage shield spell. The pressure knocks the team back father because of the push back behind the shield.

Harry loses his grip of the wand and the shield collapses. They're all flung away from the force of the magic that blasts the very sand into blackened glass from impact.

Maximillian sees the rest of the team being teleported away and decides to take one quick hit by sending a lighting fast beam of light at Harry.

"Don't you fucking dare send me away right now, Oracle!" Luna screams and gets to Harry in time to deflect the beam with her unicorn hair and willow wand by sheer will. She fires back by kicking up a sandstorm to underneath Maximillian. After which, she closes her eyes and with the rage in her heart erupting, a crucio hits the right leg of the flying armor.

Losing one propulsion leg and dropping altitude, Max attempts to fire the exploding needles, but Luna only raises an eyebrow as Harry grabs her and she blocks it with conjured butterbeer caps. "I'll destroy you next time." She promises, looking directly at the runemaster as she gets transported away.


	20. Chapter 20

_November 22, 2015_

_Somewhere in the Libyan Desert_

Maximillian D' Artagan manages to steer the enchanted vehicle they have, just as the sun rises over the east. His eyes are weary and his workers lead him to his room into a warm bath. He closes his eyes and whisper, "Luna Lovegood-Potter."

Letting out a deep breath, he runs down the fight itself and the aftermath. _"I had to transfigure 19 bodies into lego blocks and put the suit back after doing a full diagnostic. Their enchantments and conjurations disappeared after an hour and more or less kept the place whole, save for a few pockmarks on the stone. The latest prototype of the Avada project is a concern though. While piloting, the 500ml squib blood bags I inserted into the charging unit as a ground to magical energies started out at 98% and after that fifteen minute scuffle, only 5% is remaining."_

One of the house elves on his employ, pour him a flute of champagne. "A flute of Laurent-Perrier 2004 Cuvée Alexandra Grande Cuvée Rosé as requested, master Maximillian."

He opens his eyes and whispers a word of thanks to the house elf before it disappears. "Only the best for me," He mutters before thinking, _"looks like I'll have to find a willing squib sacrifice for me to use this. We only have one serviceable with the one I brought in and two more will be ready with them doing overtime."_

As the warmth of the bath loosens his tired muscles, he takes a sip of his beverage and begins to draw the complex runes he placed in the suit in the air. "Let's see then." He mutters, ignoring the throbbing of the gash on his otherwise pristine face.

"I can move that rune there, while adding in an Atlantean one instead of Ye Auld Germanic Futhark on the power rune. Absolutely odd that a risqué nursery rhyme about a voyeur rabbit in Atlantean runes is actually the secret to balancing magic and the lack thereof by squibs in the Avada Project armor." Maximillian muses, the thought of Luna Lovegood-Potter and how she effortlessly blocked his latest creation of exploding needle-sized rockets with her butterbeer caps. " _If she wasn't stalling for time to evacuate the wounded, I would have been dead by now. Still, on the bright side, I'm almost done with the last thing. One of the extremists volunteered to give his life and blood for his flawed view of paradise. They're the most interesting clients I have to date. They pay well too with the oil money they manage to scoop out in the black market."_

His musings are interrupted by a woman just outside the curtains of his bath. "Is it time already Mira?"

"Yes, Max." Mira replies and leaves him. _"Good thing she told me about the ambush. Looks like my plans are mostly underway but,"_ Maximillian pauses for a bit to stop the involuntary shiver that makes itself present, _"Harry fucking Potter is on the case now. His wife is also nothing to be trifled with. A couple of France's finest as well, two ICW agents based on the dossier I managed to get from New York after a bribe and the biggest Croakoa trader. They're almost all recovering so I have time. I think three functional armors should be enough for a demonstration to my client to cough up some galleons."_

With a triumphant smirk on his lips, he steps off the bath and dries up before wearing his tailor-made navy blue suit with a white silk shirt and polished pointed shoes. Mira meets him outside of his quarters and begins to point out the progress of the various parts of the project.

As they reach the holding deck of the prototype be brought along, Mira clears her throat and looks at the notes on the last page of her clipboard. "The willing martyr has been sacrificed and his blood flows in the new arrival armor from Istanbul." She relays, turning up her occulumency shields to keep her disgust from appearing on her tone.

He keeps his focus on armor, while Mira succeeds at seeming to be nonchalant about the viciousness of his actions. D'Artagan shakes his head and focuses on the task at hand instead. _"At last, the final stages of the Avada Project are done. I can sell this off and keep the party going."_

_Lethifold Division HQ – Early afternoon_

Combeferre looks on to the monitoring spells showing Harun's current condition. From his diagnosis, some large granite shrapnel catch him full on in his right shoulder and the pressure from the shielded blast tossed him back farther than everyone else because he wasn't able to brace himself. The croakoa trader is still out and possibly comatose.

"Damn it," he hisses in frustration, seeing Joly bandage up Euphrasie's head and Eponine curling her fists while discussing the details of the mission with Auguste in a secluded corner. _"I'm no longer going to sit in the sidelines. Thrice cursed Merlin, I should be fighting out there with my friends. No waiting like some sick bay bed waiting for a patient."_ Joly gives him a meaningful look and the glint of his eye tells Combeferre that he's thinking the same thing.

Jehan on the other hand, sits beside Azelma in a transfigured couch and keeps her close. "I'm not losing you." He whispers to Azelma and she gives him a sad smile. "I still have more fight in me, Jehan."

As Marius and Euphrasie sit down together and look longingly at each other's eyes while holding hands, Harry sits by Luna on the floor below the painting of the team she made.

Luna glances at her husband and leans her head left to gaze at him in worry. "Harry?"

Harry takes out the Elder wand from his left holster and stares at it with eyes showing all the uncertainty in his eyes. "I… I never thought I will ever use this and still lose."

The Elder wand releases faint traces of dark purple energy at the outlines. Luna touches it and they both found themselves standing in a void.

"Finally, I've gotten to talk to you, descendant. You were being horribly obtuse these past few years after you used the deathstick to fix your holly wand." A man with jet black hair, stormy grey eyes and an imposing and almost sinister mien remarks to them, "Ignotus Peverell by the way."

"I thought Antioch was the requester of the wand?" Luna asks, regaining her bearings faster than Harry.

"Well, Antioch was an idiot and don't even get me started with Cadmus. Only I left an imprint of myself in this wand when we made the Hallows together. The mistress sure has a wicked sense of humor gathering people and seekers to their doom." Ignotus answers and paces around. "It's been an awfully long time too. At least Albus visits every now and then to play poker and chess in this mindscape. But I must digress for time is short."

"Ignotus, what do you want then? Why did you call me and Luna in here?" Harry shakes his head and gets his head straight to focus on one of his forefathers.

"I'll be perfectly blunt, I want revenge. I hate the fact that I've been bested by a fancy glowing rune box. Seriously Harry Potter, using a shield spell? Are you out of your mind? You could have pulled a granite wall from thin air with me. Oh well." Ignotus rants about the recent loss before turning his attention to Luna, "Time to train him again, he's getting soft. I remember you giving me a hard time as well, Luna Potter."

Luna nods and interprets his words, "You're angry you lost and now I have to whip Harry in shape while using both his phoenix feather and you, the Elder wand right?"

Ignotus glances at a moody Harry and gives him a disdainful glare. "At least your wife is brilliant. That's the plan. Anyway, you two better get back before they think you two have gone barmier than usual."

Luna and Harry find themselves in the headquarters again with looks of concern from Bahorel and Grantaire, who see them in an almost meditative state.

Bahorel sits beside Luna and Grantaire beside Harry. "Surely the wall isn't as interesting as us."

"Maybe in the proper shade of pink, Grantaire," Harry deadpans earning him a set of warm laughs from his floor-sitting and wall-leaning companions.

"I'd have to agree. At the moment though, I'm not sure what else we can do. We already have an air tight case ready and catching Maximillian would be the icing on the cake." Bahorel remarks, pensive about seeing some of his friends still wounded. _"Even Harry Potter himself isn't unscathed."_ He tells himself, getting a whiff of the makeshift Dittany infused salve Eponine recently made before the last mission. "Is your cut healing fast?"

Harry responds with a nod. "If I had Eponine, Joly or Combeferre as my potions master, I would have probably enjoyed it, compared to Snape."

Their musings are interrupted when two faces appear in the place of the hologlobe. Harry sees Marguerite usher in a battered Scarlet Pimpernel. His lips are trembling with impotent rage because he couldn't get close enough to attack Maximillian, but gets taken out of the battle on Katherine's side. He uses his weapon cane as a crutch and hold's Marguerite's shoulder firmly for leverage. The rest of the team, save Harun, gather round behind Eponine.

"I'm sorry, Oracle and to the rest of the team." Apolline starts, but gets cut off by Eponine who quietly stands on her chair with an air of defiance.

"We have sent ourselves for a weapon intercept and instead found ourselves fighting against Maximillian D'Artagan himself and all you can say is sorry?" She hisses and curls her fists, glaring at Louis and Apolline.

"I have news for you Apolline and Louis Delacour!" Eponine shouts, leaving the Potters, Blakeneys, Katherine and Mikhail dumbstruck, "You watched at the sidelines while I, Bahorel, Combeferre, Joly, Grantaire and Marguerite sat here waiting if we were going to lose loved ones when that bastard got to the armor prototype. I almost lost my brother and sister last night and you two watched." Her eyes narrowed further and slammed her fist on the desk, "Stop making us fight your bloody shadow war if you're not going to fight it with us you cowards!"

Louis stands up in fury from his chair and just as they are about to have a shouting match, two pops are heard. They all turn their attention from the source and they see Ron and Hermione walk together towards them.

The Weasley couple rush to Harry and Luna. "I've received the letter from Luna, Harry James Potter!" Hermione shouts, smacking him upside the head. "Ron and I are fighting this with you." Turning her attention to Luna she says, "Let me know the updates after this."

Ron, meanwhile, crosses his arms and quietly watches everyone. "We couldn't stay. We were being selfish if we stayed. Two raven patronuses told us that we'd have to hurry on back here."

Eponine puts her attention back to the hologram and remarks, "You have a lot to answer for."

"That we do. We took a gamble and asked each one of you if you are willing to run into a possible trap" Louis explains while keeping his tone level. "The ones who came are volunteers."

"That doesn't excuse the fact that you knew the travelling points and did not even think of a plan B in case dragon dung hits the vertexis. We maybe the rogues of the Lethifold Division, but we are not fucking blasting spell fodder!"

Auguste places a hand on Eponine's fist and looks intently at his wife. A slight shake of his head and she relents slightly.

"I suppose your next mission for us will be the facility in the Libyan Desert." Auguste starts and earns a quick nod from Apolline. "I'm sorry then, I'll have to discuss this with everyone. Almost all of us are casualties of that mission. I could not do that to my friends twice. We will let you know of our decision." He then taps the button on the hologram before Apolline or Louis could interject and the globe returns on display.

"Everyone take half an hour just to cool our heads." Auguste suggests and makes his way back to the master's bedroom outside the closet. Once inside, his strong, calm and collected façade breaks a little bit and the doubts appear on his face. Summoning a bottle of scotch and a glass, he pours himself a quarter full and returns the bottle from where he got it. Paris is quiet outside, watching the world outside through his window. "I didn't listen to my gut feel."

"It would have still went as down and as dirty, Auguste." Eponine remarks, as she closes the door behind her and stands beside her husband.

Auguste takes a sip of the scotch, savouring the liquid warmth line through his throat. "I can't believe I just cut off two of the most influential people in all of France."

"It was our call. They deserve our ire sometimes, but they always have good intentions." She holds the tips of the fingertips on his free hand and gently caresses it. "We'll need you to be strong too, just as Harry and the Scarlet Pimpernel are being strong."

Enjolras nods in understanding and kisses Eponine's forehead and finishes the rest of the glass. No words are said as they embrace in the still comforting silence between them.

A few minutes later back in the HQ room, Auguste stands on top of one of the tables to catch everyone's attention. "Everyone, we are all weary and wounded fighting, not just for our beloved France, but also for the entirety of Europe herself. We are outgunned and outclassed, but we will not yield to him. Now who's with me?"

A man decides to climb over the table and he notices the slight irritation from the black eyes behind the mop of dirty blond hair. "Combeferre," he whispers before he finds himself under a silencing spell.

"What the flying fuck is wrong with you Auguste? We fought through the barricades we made at Sorbonne when we pushed for the equality of all magicals, beings and creatures in our beloved France! I was your best man at your crazy drunken wedding with Eponine. I've stitched you up, and force fed you healing potions after that one mission where you got hammered by a tree trunk from a rogue giant. All this time, you've asked me, Bahorel, Joly and Grantaire to stay behind, chief. I'm angry about that and having to patch you guys up while we were waiting impotently, wondering if our brothers in shed blood were going to come home and rest on boxes." Combeferre conks him in the head and then grins at him.

"Now we have our chief back in order and his brain back in his head. Anyone else would like to say anything?"

Luna catches Harry's glance and gives him a hand signal, with her drawing a triangle on her palm. Harry nods in understanding and says, "I have one more thing to say."

He takes out the Elder Wand from his left holster and wields it on his right hand. Luna tosses the cloak from her small pouch and hands it to Harry, "The ring?"

"Not yet, Luna" Harry responds with Hermione's eyes widening. "Are they going to?" Hermione mutters in shock and Ron holds her hand, replying, "They are. They made a promise to only do this when things are absolutely grim. I found the stone for him in the forbidden forest so no one else has to bear the burden."

"I wield the Wand of Destiny." Harry remarks and earns a resounding roar of disbelief, even from Marguerite and the Scarlet Pimpernel. He raises his eyebrow in annoyance and silences near everyone in one fell swoop. A hum is heard by Marius and his eyes grew larger in awe and fear. Euphrasie catches on and realizes Harry isn't lying. Even Auguste's eyes show his discomfort at thought of that power in Harry's hands.

He cancels it a moment later and Percy says, "I thought it was a child's tale from Beedle the Bard to be honest. But we all know that it's all true now."

Harry sighs and says, "I prefer to keep this a secret, but there should be no secrets amongst family in shed blood." Combeferre smiles and Eponine smirks at Harry's words and he caps it off with showing everyone the scar on his right hand. _I must not tell lies_

Azelma narrows her eyes in rage and whispers, "Blood quill." Marius nods beside her in agreement.

"But that's not important now. What's important is we prepare for the coming battle ahead of us.

As Harry says those words, Percy holds the tip of his charmed mask and looks meaningfully at Marguerite. She smiles and whispers, "The league wouldn't mind if they have a magical counterpart to help you conduct more missions."

"Are you sure?"

"Positive." Marguerite replies and kisses his cheek to the questioning eye of Gavroche just as Combeferre steps down from the table.

"Oh, one more thing," The Scarlet Pimpernel interrupts Harry, "No secret amongst family in shed blood right? I'm with you as well on storming the facility." He takes off the mask and Feuilly, Euphraise, Gavroche and Bahorel gives Courfeyrac a galleon each.

"You cheeky blighters, you really took a bet on if the Scarlet Pimpernel will take off his mask with us present?" Joly remarks in amusement.

Luna shares a meaningful look with Eponine and shakes their heads in exasperation.

"Well, surprising to see you here, Percy Blakeney. All along, you almost made everyone think you are some thickheaded fop with a Malfoy-like smirk that drives everyone up the wall whenever you fuzz over a collar or imaginary creases on your robes. And now, here you are getting in the thick of the fight for quite some time."

Hermione clears her throat and smiles knowingly at an amused Marguerite and then fixes her gaze at Percy. "Thank you for confirming my hunch, Percy. For months since you were first reported in the Wizarding Times, the photo of the Scarlet Pimpernel always seems to fuzz over his cuffs. You never used a wand and of everyone I've met, you're the only Londoner I've ever met that keeps everything deliberately symmetrical. You have been my only suspect as the man behind the mask."

"You really are brilliant, Hermione." Ron kisses her cheek and Hermione's mind suddenly puts fear in the heart of Percy, as she remarks, "Thank you Ron, that's sweet of you."


	21. Chapter 21

_November 23, 2015_

_Lethifold Division HQ – Enjolras Residence_

Marguerite rests her eyes a bit while leaning on the wall nearest the cabinet door entrance. The hot mug of warm thin chocolate engulfs her senses and makes her smile at the small white marshmallow bits all around the drink. The morning light streams from the window and lands on her right shoulder. Almost everyone around is asleep in the makeshift bunk area in the center of the room. There are floating mattresses with bed covers and blankets on top swirl around the room, replacing the usual tables and chairs around the hologlobe.

Only Luna is awake with her and drinking _Hojicha_ tea on a small Japanese tea cup nearby. "I'm an early riser to be honest. Sadly, none of my kids got that from me." Luna whispers as a floating teapot glides towards her. She lifts her empty cup and the teapot pours some tea into it, while its steam whistles to the tune 'Be our Guest' from Disney's Beauty and the Beast.

Marguerite remarks, "I like the sun streaming down as well. It's refreshing to the mind and a sign of good things to come for the day."

"True, my mother always tells me about it when I'm younger and kept it in my heart up to this point in time." Luna takes another sip and enjoys the caramel-like flavor of _Hojicha_ as it touches the tip of her tongue. She lets out a sigh of pleasure from the tea and a triumphant grin leaves her lips "Still, I do like writing in the Quibbler. Got to love the fact that a few tweaks I did to Dad's magazine increased readership and made a killing after we released the Snorkack finding."

"I'm a fan to be honest. I saw your mother and father start that newspaper like a sibling. Your mother wrote spell theory and placed in new ones she made besides a few tested contributions from readers every now and then. Your father used to work extensively with Newt Scamander whenever he goes out with one of his newly found creatures. I was a new beat writer for the Daily Prophet at the time when the accident happened." Marguerite's joyous eyes slightly lost its luster for a moment, "When I had my bearings and married Percy, we did the same thing with the Wizarding Times. The Quibbler is an inspiration to me to speak truths and question conventional beliefs. And now, we'll report this with all the facts we're getting first hand. Are you ready for it?"

Luna ponders about it for quick while before replying, "Always. I will if you will, Marguerite." Her companion nods with a wisp of a smile after taking another sip of her hot chocolate.

"We'll definitely do an article on this one together." Marguerite suggests and lights up Luna's face.

Gavroche sits up and yawns after sitting up and stretching his arms. After rubbing his eyes, he sees Luna and Marguerite together and he greets them, "Good morning. I suppose I need to get going. I promised Gabrielle that I'll pick her up today." He casts a mouth freshening charm and hurries to the nearby showers. A few minutes later, Gavroche is ready with his rugged overcoat, navy blue jeans with warming charms, a black and red Ballycastle Bats shirt, a dark blue newsboy cap and his heavy steel toed boots.

He opens the cabinet door, as Luna and Marguerite stop their chat to view the excited young man. "Young love." Luna mouths. Marguerite's giggle stops midway when Gavroche is dumbfounded at seeing Gabrielle already there with Apolline and Louis Delacour.

Gabrielle doesn't hesitate and gives Gavroche a feather-light kiss on the lips and a smile amidst the hug.

" _Monsieur et Madame Delacour_ , what brings you early in the morning? This is about the team, isn't it?" Luna asks, leading the three Delacours and Gavroche back inside. Marguerite closes the door behind her and secures it again.

A soft wind chime sound wakes everyone up and the mattresses fix themselves up in the corner of the room. Eponine groggily walks to the Delacours and takes a chair floated in by Auguste. She sits down facing the three Delacours and Joly brings in more hot chocolate with marshmallows for the four. "It's perfect for the cold weather," Joly vows with a smile on his lips before returning to the sickbay to help Combeferre with Harun's treatment.

Apolline takes a deep breath as Louis begins to speak. "Du Pont will go ballistic if he finds out we're going on the field when you command the strike team." Apolline touches her husband's shaking hands and gives him a look of calm resolve.

Louis nods to his wife and adds, "We've been unfair to the entire team. We saw what happened in that last interception from a distance but could not intervene. Apolline was beside herself the entire time and inconsolable for half a day. Knowing this fault of ours," Louis looks directly into Eponine's eyes, "will you still allow us to join with you in the attack Algiz's Libyan compound."

Eponine sighs and leans back on the chair for a moment to ease the minor discomfort. "You didn't even have to ask, Apolline and Louis." She turns to Gabrielle and furrows her brow, "but why is your daughter here?"

"She insisted to join the team, because she has information for us." Louis remarks and an appeasing smile on his lips.

Gabrielle takes out a dossier from her pouch and says, "If I did this as a mundane, I would be court-martialed and possibly hanged or placed inside a body bag." She hands Eponine the folder and leans on her chair, perfecting a calm and collected look she learned from her mother.

"Consider it an early Christmas gift, Eponine." Gabrielle jokes with her dimples showing as she smiles.

Eponine mouths the words, "Highly classified," she opens it and reads the first four letters. Her eyes show her shock, confusion and fear for the woman who loves his youngest brother.

"You're from the GIGN?" She stammers in confusion and focuses her eyes on Gabrielle.

Louis chuckles and says, "What makes Du Pont so effective is the fact that he has me and Apolline have our hands on everything France has to offer in mundane and magical worlds, after the barricades at Sorbonne."

Apolline on the other hand, smiles sadly at Eponine, "even with all our influence, we unfortunately failed you, most of all. We let ourselves be blindsided by old friends and now two of them are horribly linked to this mess."

Eponine shakes her head and places a comforting hand on Apolline's shoulder. "We did what we could. A fiend named Montparnasse told me that whenever they fuck up a heist or get horribly injured in their jobs as hitwizards, he tells himself to 'stop dwelling on it'. The other choice would have gone down just as dirty or as fucked up. He may be a right old bastard, but he has his occasional bits of wisdom."

Going back to the dossier, she mutters, "So, they know we've been tapping into a STEM Satellite through M. Valjean, but they're not doing anything?"

Gabrielle nods and remarks, "Because they know Jean is a good man and has even helped us in a couple of our tracking missions like that one where he helped us find those barbarians who went into Charlie Hebdo. Also helps to confound the trigger happy ones in the office."

"Good to know." Eponine breathes a sigh of relief at not having them at anyone's watch list. She takes a look at the satellite images photos of the entire compound from the sky.

Gabrielle quips, "You think that's enough for you? We also have this one." She then gives her a roll of blue prints. "We have a measure of the building. We do have sleeper agents in the extremists' positions after all. We just don't use them when their chance to get out of the place alive is close to zero."

Eponine nods in understanding and whispers, "Welcome back to the Lethifold Division, Gabrielle. And of course, welcome to the team, Apolline and Louis. You have a lot of explaining to Ron though. He's been aching to get the two of you in a corner for a chat." She smiles mischievously at the Delacours before gesturing Ron to come and grill them, while she takes control of the organized chaos for preparations.

_AWRI Project Avada Compount, Libyan Desert_

As she finishes her shift for handling the logistics of making more of the suits she conceptualized, she lies in her bunk and takes out a worn out photo of an older brother she could only barely remember. She actually sneaked it out of her parents' home in Istanbul along with a few items when she ran away.

"I wonder where he could be. By now, he's probably forty-four years old if he's still alive." Mira mutters to herself.

"I hope you're alright, wherever you are Harun."

" _I miss my small Doner Kebab shop in Beirut. These bastards that I'm working with help blow it up a day before we sent that package in Paris."_ She ponders and remembers the time she first time she tasted Donner Kebab.

*Flashback*

_1998 Bazaar of Magic_

Mira walks by just beside the Blue Mosque, when her senses catch a whiff of a succulent smell of freshly baked wheat flatbread and beef. She follows the scent and ends up a quaint corner shop with vertical rotisseries. She sees layers upon layers of spiced meats stacked together and slowly spinning around the contraption. The flatbreads zoom off the oven and the queue of twenty people is almost instantaneously served some fresh _doner_ _kebab_. The garlic sauce dips float and zoom around the customers as they eat and chat about their days.

' _The magical institute of Beirut doesn't have one of these.'_ She observes the surroundings and decides to order one for herself. The singing cabbages, garlic sauce, diced bouncy tomatoes, and some salt and pepper accompany the sliced beef into two halved flatbread pockets. A paper napkin finishes the ensemble and floats towards Mira, as she flicks three sickles towards the portly mustached wizard behind the counter.

Mira takes a bite and remembers the childhood days with her mother and father, who only mentions of an older brother who ran away. She later realizes that he left because the very magic that flows in her veins is _haram._ She savors the kebab and heads on out, nearly bumping into a tall and lanky man at the door. For a moment, she looks at the older man before her.

He smiles softly at her, muttering 'sorry 'and they lock eyes as they both apologize. Their eyes meet and they feel a certain connection, something that felt right and whole. Her heart skipped a beat and she whispers, "Do I know you?"

"I'm sorry miss. I believe we haven't met, even if you do look familiar." The man tells her, "Perhaps I'm mistaken. Again, I'm sorry for nearly bumping into you." He smiles sadly and heads for the counter.

Mira shrugs and leaves. She pulls out a small photo of a nine-year-old boy from her pouch and she curses. "Damn it, he was my long lost brother!"

She heads back but doesn't see him anymore. Her shoulders sag in disbelief and she heads on back to the portkey to Beirut. "I hope you are well, brother. May my goodwill watch over you, Harun Benayoun."

*End of flashback*

"I hope you really are still alive somewhere brother," she mutters as she lies back down. Her pillow rests beneath her neck and she bundles up for the cold winds of the desert. Mira Haddid places the old family photo and whispers, "I turned my back on being Junah Benayoun when our father and mother decided I was an abomination in their eyes." She wipes the tears streaming from her eyes, trying to bury the old wound still aching after all these years. "It is best to leave the past, Mira. That is why you're here and still alive."

Mira lets out a sigh and closes her eyes to enter the realm of Morpheus once more.


	22. Chapter 22

_November 26, 2015_

_Ministry of Magic – London, England_

Kingsley makes a cup of tea for himself and floats it around. The Daily Prophet sent him a copy and he scowls. Rita Skeeter's up to it again. He reads the title, "War Heroes spotted in Australia."

"Because they're bloody in vacation, you dunce," Kingsley hisses and consigns the newspaper in the fireplace.

He sits down and sips his tea, before a platypus patronus appears beside him. "Hi Kingsley, long time no see. Care to take a quick trip to France? Head on over here. Du Pont out,"

Kingsley breaks out a grin and shakes his head. "It looks like he might have discovered the Quartet of Trouble in his home soil." Minister Shacklebolt goes through the secure international floo and ends up in the French Minister's office.

Minister Du Pont smiles at him and greets him. "Long time no see, old friend."

"Your Patronus can never be mistaken for anything else. You're a Frenchman through and through but have a Platypus of all things as the embodiment of your happiness." Shacklebolt replies with a grin of his own. "Well, you have anything to tell me that needs the discretion of your office?"

"Just one thing really, but this needs a vow of silence." Du Pont remarks as his jovial face turns grim.

Kingsley sizes up his French counterpart and then nods after finding him absolutely determined in that particular course of action. "I trust you, Alexandré Du Pont."

Alexandré hands him a portkey in the form of an empty bottle of Merlot and they felt the pull in the navels. After a bright flash, he sees a group of people with him inside the Lethifold Division HQ.

"Kingsley, I brought you here to help us with the Lethifold Division's strike into the very heart of the enemy we now face in Libya." Shacklebolt hears Du Pont speak before meeting Harry's eyes. Mirth appears on their glances and he lets out a sigh.

Holding his right hand up to pause Alexandré, he then places it on his face before shaking his head in frustration and amusement. "I should have known you four would be here and not just the ICW stint anymore."

Ron and Hermione look at each other with grins threatening to come out of their lips, while Luna leans her head to the left and says, "They did ask permission after all. Then again, the cat's out of the bag now, Kingsley. The mastermind knows we're on to him." Percy is about to open his mouth to comment, but Marguerite stomps on his foot so he wouldn't be given away.

Alexandré introduces Kingsley to the Amis and the ICW trio. Just as he was about to reach the Scarlet Pimpernel, Shacklebolt eyes the masked hero and remarks, "You do good work, especially with the retrieval of Yazidi captives. I hope you continue it beyond this mission. My office is open to you," Kingsley offers a hand.

Percy shakes the Minister's hand and replies in his disguised voice, "The pleasure is all mine, Minister."

Eponine whistles at everyone and says, "Time to get to business then. Minister Shacklebolt, we called you up here because we need your expertise. You've had the most combat experience compared to all of us and we'd like your insight." She gestures to a hologram schematic of the AWRI's Libyan complex. "We're going to storm this to stop a weapon being created there."

Kingsley's eyes furrow and mutters, "International incident if you guys get caught. Do you have any pensieves lying around so I can see capabilities of the weapon?"

Courfeyrac smirks and remarks, "We have something even better than a pensieve in my honest opinion." He gestures to the hologlobe and it changes into a view of their fight with Maximillian's latest prototype against Luna's skills."

Kingsley watches in complete silence and as the recording ends, he says, "So you're fighting Maximillian D'Artagan of Algiz Warders and Research Industries because he's getting his inventions into the mundane warfare. " As everyone around him nods, he takes a glance at the schematic before him. He takes out his wand and begins giving his feedback.

"You'll need to be in three strike teams again, coming in from the north, east and west. The south is harder to pass by because to the elevation differences. By the looks of this, if you're quick enough, you can circle around and blow stuff out. If only we have Seamus Finnegan with us, Harry… Anyway, from there, stick together and don't confront Maximillian's suit, let him expend and give chase to one while the other two destroy the fabrications workshops and the like." Kingsley pauses in his musings before thundering, "CONSTANT VIGILANCE!" Shacklebolt is pleased no one twitched or jumped out and sees Harry's shrug at him.

"Nice try, Kingsley." Ron remarks and earns a thwack on the back of his head from Hermione, who smiles innocently at her husband.

"Well, that's basically it. However, the problem is how are you going to get out? A compound that secure would have anti-portkey and apparation. Do you plan on capture or decisive action?"

Auguste saves everyone from silence and replies, "capture. We need to capture him so we can trace and seal off most of the things connected to him. Perhaps, we can even use this to lead the mundane government to more sleeper cells. Simply, we need to capture him so that he may face justice for betraying France."

"I see the wisdom of it, even if it makes it that much harder to do so. But it goes back to my question, how do you plan to evacuate the mission area?" Kingsley points out and the Scarlet Pimpernel glances at Marguerite. She nods at him after a moment.

"We can contact Armand St. Just. He's involved in my operations to save the Yazidis. He uses a Boeing Chinook HC Mk6 that was modified and enchanted by Marguerite to fly on magic alone." Percy replies behind his costume. "He calls it cheating to be honest, because he isn't spotted by mundane radar and anti-aircraft fire."

"As long as you're ok with it Marguerite, I'm all ears for it. By the way, how is your husband Percy? Still annoying you with always straightening out his suit?" Kingsley asks and Marguerite laughs softly. She replies, "Percy is Percy, Kingsley. I love him regardless."

As Marguerite says those words, Eponine silences Grantaire and Bahorel from letting their chuckles give them away. She also kicks Gavroche in the shins with an innocent smile on her face.

Kingsley thankfully doesn't notice and he says, "Thank heavens you're alright. Anyway, there's all I can give you. You're all professionals, but you need to plan it well and not just on the field like you did during the last interception. Good luck."

"Thank you Kingsley." Alexandré opens the conversation, but Kingsley interrupts while they made their way back to the French Minister's office. "No, I have to thank you Alexandré. You're keeping another full scale war at bay." He places a hand on his French counterpart and says, "thank you for not arresting my friends." Alexandré shakes his head and remarks, "I like them here. They're giving the barricade kids much needed experience." With that they disappear in another portkey.

_Twelve hours later_

"Are you ready for practice Harry?" Luna asks with a coy smile on her lips. Harry smiles back and replies, "Definitely Luna love, if we have room to do so though."

As the rest of the team gets ready, Harry catches the attention of Eponine. She wobbles towards the two Potters and Harry then asks, "Do you have any space where Luna and I can go all out?"

With a mischievous grin, she whispers, "I've been waiting for you to ask me that. Follow me."

Harry and Luna give each other a look before following Eponine. She leads the two Potters into an oak door and opens it to reveal a dueler's deck. There is a white circle on each side upon the scorched stone floor and various objects litter the floor around them. "This is where Auguste and I practice from time to time when I wasn't pregnant."

Luna responds, "Thank you Eponine." She turns her attention to Harry, "Standard rules apply."

Harry nods and replies, "There is only one rule: no holding back."

As they step into their respective circles, Luna nods and mouths, "I love you."

"I love you too." Harry says before arming his Holly and Yew wands. A moment later, a blinding flash of white light engulfed the room.

Ice lances head towards Luna, who dodged it effortlessly with her eyes closed. A playful smirk lights up her lips and she responds in kind with a white-hot fire whip towards Harry. Harry jumps to his side and counters it with an aguamenti spell from the Yew wand, while launching needles at Luna with his Holly wand.

The white spots in her eyes disappear and she dispels the fire whip. She quickly summons a slab of stone from the very floor before her and blocks the needles. Steadying her footing, she increases the size of the stone and banishes it towards Harry.

Harry sheathes his Holly wand and whispers, "Your turn, Ignotus." He raises the wand up above his head and brings it down in a slashing motion. The stone is cut cleanly in half and a wave of slashing power heads towards Luna and meets her focused circle shield of magic.

"You're too predictable, Harry!" Luna shouts as wasps flank Harry from both sides and she sends a bolt of lightning, while her shield holds the strength of Harry's spell.

Harry smirks in approval before effortlessly transfiguring the halved stone slabs into lightning rods and casts a swirl of fire around him. The raging flames engulf the wasps to a fiery end and the lightning rods absorb and dissipate the lightning bolt.

Luna and Harry's eyes meet and both have a twinkle in their eyes. After that moment, they both release a barrage combination of bone breakers, heart stoppers, stunners, and transfigured animals at each other. Harry's wolves meet Luna's bear and the spells are dodged effortlessly by the two, as if their doing a waltz step. The spells fly furious, missing each other by inches, and then Harry decides to end the duel.

He holds both wands in his right hand and engulfs the room in an encompassing force wave, which knocks Luna out from the circle. He dispels and repairs everything around him as he made his way to his wife. Once he got near, he finds her dusting her robes and still standing half an inch from her circle.

"Not bad, I should have poured more power into the anchor spell." Luna quips and then wraps her arms around Harry, before passing out in his arms.

Harry whispers, "You did well, Luna," taking a glance at the nicks and cuts he received during the fight. He carries her in his arms and heads out of the room. Once he opens the door, everyone around the hologram is awestruck at him and Luna. Hermione gives him a meaningful glance and Harry shakes his head. Ron walks towards him and gestures him to the sick bay.

"You've been holding back on me and Hermione during our weekly duels haven't you?"

"Yes Ron, the only reason I spar with Luna at full strength is because she insists on it. That's why she was able to save our asses during the last mission. So, whose idea was it to watch us duel?" Harry replies with an amused smile on his lips while laying down his wife on one of the empty beds to rest from exhaustion.

"Eponine. Hermione and I were against it, but she already had it on when we realized what was happening." Ron responds and shrugs. He watches Harry caress Luna's face for a moment before heading back to the center of the room. "You're not angry about it?"

"No Ron, I'm not angry about it. They're fighting with us and we're all bound in secrecy either way."

Eponine walks towards him and gives him a sheepish smile, healing Harry's wounds deftly. "I'm sorry. I had to be sure you can bring down Maximillian, so he can face justice here."

"No problem Eponine. Now let's plan the attack tomorrow."Harry replies, taking one last glance at Luna and the still unconscious Harun in sick bay, before arranging the attack teams.


	23. Chapter 23

_November 27, 2015_

_Lethifold Division HQ – Enjolras Residence_

Eponine stands by with Marguerite as they both look over their notes on tonight's operation. "So we have Harry leading the Alpha Team, Auguste the Bravo Team, and Percy leading the Charlie team. Hang on a bit. I'll need to write down who gets in under each team."

Marguerite hands Eponine a ballpoint pen and a piece of paper. As Eponine writes it down, Marguerite takes a peek and they make up the list.

Alpha Team:

Harry, Hermione, Ron, Courfeyrac, Feuilly, Azelma, Jehan

Bravo Team:

Auguste, Combeferre, Bahorel, Marius, Euphrasie, Louis, Apolline

Charlie Team:

Percy, Katherine, Mikhail, Joly, Gavroche, Luna

"Why did you put Luna in Charlie team?" Marguerite asks, slightly bewildered at the choice.

Eponine stops writing and glances at Marguerite, "I know that there is a possibility that Harry Potter might throw a fit about it, but when you look at it logically, we need to balance the team out. What I plan to do is to have three teams strike, just like Minister Shacklebolt suggested. But we'll be having one team drawing out Maximillian and his battle armor, while the other two destroy the facility. Once we have most of the place leveled, we can focus everyone on capturing the armor."

A shadow appears behind them and they both look to the source. Harun gives them a stern look and remarks, "Just because I was down for the count, doesn't mean that I'm getting a get out of the mission free card. Put me in Alpha Team."

"You just got out of a coma, are you nuts?"

"No, I have to do this, Eponine Enjolras." Harun replies with a steely-eyed determination in his eye. "I will be on that mission later."

Eponine takes a deep breath before meeting Harun's eyes. "If you're fine dying, I'll put you in Alpha Team."

Harun nods and leaves while Marguerite places a comforting hand on Eponine's shoulder. "Let it be, we're just all stubborn."

"I know that, Marguerite. Anyway, you give the go signal to Armand for the extraction. He should be there within five minutes and out before the fifteen minute mark."

"He will be there. Is everything else ready?"

Eponine nods and says, "I hope they'll all be alright after this."

"I hope so too." Marguerite replies and leaves for Percy. Auguste arrives and sits down beside her.

"You come back without me having to stitch you, Auguste," Eponine remarks. She then caresses his cheek and then mess his hair a bit. Her eyes never leave his, biting back the worry and the frantic beating of her heart.

Auguste takes her wandering hand and kisses the knuckles, "I promise. This one is for you and Ian." He embraces Eponine and rest his head at the crook of her neck. "I'll be alright."

"You better be, Auguste or I will raise you back from the dead and kill you again." Eponine retorts playfully, worry disappearing from her teary eyes. "Get everyone here so we can plan this out well enough."

_Evening – Somewhere in the Libyan Desert_

The chilly November winds hit Harun's face as he stares up the starry sky above. "And so it ends." He mutters to himself. "It's ironic, Mars is bright tonight."

"You sound like our Centaur astronomy teacher when I first met him." Harry quips, looking up into the horizon as well. "My son must be with him right now in his class."

Harun smiles at the thought but doesn't look at Harry. "You've lucky to have family. I'm insanely jealous because I have not found my sister Junah after all these years. This one is for her."

"Let's get ready then, shall we?" Harry remarks, leading the Alpha team with him. _'I hope Luna's alright.'_

"Alpha team, are you in position?" Eponine asks through the bandage communicator.

"Oracle, this is Alpha one, we are in position. Standing by for your go signal," Harry responds, glancing around his team. Everyone has their wands at ready and the hoods are down.

"Oracle, this is Bravo one, we're ready and waiting for your orders,"Enjolras says on the west side of the compound.

"Charlie one here, all systems go. The snorkack is raring to go and furious." Percy quips in to Eponine. Over the background, they overhear Luna shouting, "The Snorkack is burning with the rage of a thousand gamma-ray bursts. Give the go signal already before I start causing friendly fire."

Katherine chuckles at the imagery and Mikhail deadpans, "I never thought you'd be into mundane astronomy, Luna."

"Well, there's a reason why I'm as batty as the moon. I'm a large part of the night sky."

Eponine clears her throat from the by play she heads and starts giving out orders. "All teams begin the breach. Remember, have one of you line up the pack of magical explosives on the walls. On your confirmation, Mikhail, detonate the charges with your talismans. We'll just to go in with a bang. Lastly, remember that we're here to capture Maximillian and the armors he created. We need these two which makes our job harder. Good luck and throw in pulse sonars every now and then so I can be your eyes."

"On my go. One, two, go!" Eponine begins the operation. Harry places the charges in the north wing, Louis on the west one and Percy as the Scarlet Pimpernel on the east. The three clear the blast area, which leads the second part with three black cranes leaving from the pockets of Mikhail, Hermione and Combeferre. The origami birds fly straight through the biting desert winds and detonate the charges at the same time. "Operation Stop an Avada is cleared for operation. Level that place to the ground after capturing objective A and B."

The troops of Alpha, Bravo and Charlie team charge in, while a goat patronus heads to Louis and Apolline. "I know I have little to give you in the way of trust, but I swear on my magic about the information I give you Huginn and Muninn. The one of thearmorsis found in the fabrication labs, the other one is being worn by a squib extremist. The last one is with Maximillian. Cet, out."

"You heard that on the communicator, Eponine?" Louis asks, dodging a zap of crimson magic from one of the guards. Apolline lets loose the full strength of her allure and forces the aggressor to change target, distracting the guards in the compound from their side.

"If her tally matches what I see after you people start throwing the sonic pulses, I say we trust her. So verify already." Eponine retorts, seeing Gavroche, Jehan and Marius throw and banish sonic pulses around the main blast zones.

As the feed appears before her, she furrows her eyebrows in concentration and exclaims, "Bingo! Information verified. Proceed with capture and remember, kite Max around and switch from time to time. Merlin, please be careful."

"Contact at three o'clock!" Harry shouts before getting thrown back from an explosion rune that he barely manages to shield. One of the extremists at their right manages to grab Hermione's wand in midair and runs away.

Seeing her wand taken, she brings out her Luger P08, aims and fires an off balance shot at the runner and it hits the back of his head. She lands on a side roll and fires three more shots at the aggressors and manages to hit two in the neck and one in the heart. Hermione pulls Ron up with her free hand and sees the fear in his eyes. "Not now, love. We have a task to do. I promise we'll talk about it after."

Harry sees everyone still ok and points Feuilly and Courfeyrac to go wild on the explosive ordinance in their hands.

Just as Hermione is halfway to where her wand is, their communicators squawk, "Prototype one inbound, brace yourselves and prepare for contact!"

Ron drags Hermione away while disillusioning and covering her wand away from Maximillian's view, just as he appears. "Trust me." Ron whispers, and fires off steel lances at their foe.

"Everyone, stick with me!" Harry commands and they all keep Maximillian preoccupied with rubble and bullets, while running around the northern part of the compound.

Meanwhile on the east side of the compound, Katherine's spell work engulfs the defenders with a mini sandstorm, while Gav and Joly stun them.

Percy leads everyone in after Luna flings the sonar pulses inside, and they find themselves in a room full of machines running on magic. "Eponine, we're in the facility wing with machines cranking up reinforced steel and smoothened out granite."

"Give me a second here," Eponine begins tapping the holoscreen with her wand and sees the inside of the building. "You have the unoccupied armor around thirty meters away. Just take a quick right at the nearest corner and you're home free. Wait," Eponine's tone gets serious. "Ten troops inbound, armed with automatic rifles."

Percy whispers, "Eponine, I'll take them down. Charlie Team, get them distracted." He then cloaks out of the scene and begins to make his way towards the attackers. As the gunfire head towards the entrance point, Percy is already at where their attackers are. As the sparks and booms leave the wands of his teammates, Blakeney stuns the troops with his cane. With the last 'urk' leaves the lips of the remaining aggressor, Eponine commands the Charlie Team to secure the unfinished armor. Joly even brings in a camera and takes photos of the entire area before securing the point. "All clear, Eponine?" Percy asks and Eponine responds with, "10-4 SP. Alpha team is currently engaged. Do prepare to relieve them soon."

"Copy, we're securing the first one." Percy replies, seeing Katherine place the captured armor in a magically enlarged bag.

Eponine breathes a sigh of relief and says, "Phase one is complete. Start causing destruction there and make your way inside towards Alpha Team."

The Scarlet Pimpernel allows himself a brief smile before placing some semtex on the outside walls and detonating it, as they made their way to the center of the compound, tossing sonar pulses around just in case.


	24. Chapter 24

_November 27, 2015_

_Algiz Warders and Research Industries compound, Libyan Desert_

Auguste charges in and sees an Arabian-looking woman run towards them. Louis and Apolline train their wands immediately at her and she raises her hands.

"Damn it Huginn and Muninn, I'm on your side!" The woman shouts, "stun me if you must, but I can help you find the last suit. One of the extremist squibs is wearing it as of now. I'm your best bet at disabling it without getting near it."

"Swear on your magic, Mira!" Apolline thunders, wrapping her with ropes and floating her towards them.

"There isn't much time. I swear on my magic I'm trying to help you right now with the information I have. Is that fucking sufficient?" Mira vows and they all see the tendrils of blue magic become a ribbon on her neck. "Hurry up, get in!"

Marius and Cosette throw in their stash of sonar pulses into the blast opening. "All clear, proceed. I have sixty percent visual on everything happening. Right now, Charlie Team is intercepting Alpha Team and Avada Project, so get that other armor." Eponine remarks while seeing that they got in the storage area on her holoscreen.

Louis unties Mira and gives her a stern glare. "Lead the way, Mira. I'll give you only one chance. Please don't waste it and disappoint us like Maximillian did." Mira could see the hurt in Louis' and Apolline's eyes from her omitted information in the Temple of Amun.

"I," Mira trails off and shakes her head at the tears threatening to leave her eyes. "I had to. This is the only way we can get Maximillian and bring him to justice. Caught red handed in the act." She whispers and fires off a stunner at the incoming opposition.

"There are eight men, well entrenched in cover on the opposite side of the hallway. They have assault rifles and there is one witch there in command. Auguste and Combeferre, you know what to do."

"Are you thinking of that particular skill set, Eponine?" Marius asks, sending off sparks and piercers at the men shooting at them."

Eponine smirks and replies, "There's a good reason why Auguste and Combeferre are in your team. Bahorel, Marius and Cosette, distract them. Louis and Apolline, stand by with Mira. We'll need your expertise later."

Auguste smirks and their wands turn into quarterstaffs. "One thing they never teach at Hogwarts or Durmstrang dueling class, the fine art of _canne de combat_."

Combeferre nods soberly and begins to rush in, tossing plates inside while spinning his staff. The plates become thick marble slabs. Gavroche adds in a few strengthening charms, as Marius comes in as well and fires off piercing hexes at the enemies before them. Combeferre, then banishes Auguste towards the leader. He then launches the marble slabs at the enemies and destroys the cover viciously. The other slabs ram the shooters and the remaining team members run in the hallway behind Combeferre.

The leader deftly attacks Auguste with killing curses from her wand. She manages to cast in three dodged green lights before Enjolras slams the staff at her wrist. A booted kick to the knee follows up the heavy staff strike and the last thing she sees is a wooden blur before she is knocked out of her wits.

"Damn, that last one nearly got me." Auguste remarks, seeing the searing cut on his left sleeve.

Gavroche secures their enemies and gives Auguste a jaunty salute. "At least you're still sharp after the last time I beat you."

"You were lucky I got distracted by your sister's news that she was pregnant with Ian." Auguste retorts and sees the armor before them.

"For the caliphate!" the man before them thunders before activating the suit. "Don't worry, he's only one person. Spread out Bravo team." Eponine orders, as they move around the extremist attacking them with white beams of light.

"I've had enough of this." Louis thunders, deflecting the beam that nearly hit his wife with a flick of his wand. "No one attacks her and gets away with it."

Placing one foot steady behind him, right leg slightly bent, wand aimed straight at his opponent, Louis motions with his left hand in a come-hither pose. " _On ne passé pas!_ " he bellows, deflecting another blow of magic with a granite slab.

The man's attention is distracted by bursts of steel lances from Marius and Euphrasie, flying stone fists from Gavroche, swarms of bees from Bahorel, lightning bolts from Auguste and Combeferre, and mocking stinging hexes from Louis.

"Does the damn thing have an off switch or a deactivating rune?" Apolline asks, grabbing hold of Mira while dodging white pulses of magic from the armored attacker. "We need that for evidence."

Mira ponders for a moment, until she sees the _teiwaz_ rune underneath the power gauge in the middle of the armor. "You can, but you need to have someone hit the teiwaz rune on the stomach part with something solid to disrupt the magical flow." She then ducks and a magical needle nearly scalps her, missing her by a centimeter. Her eyes narrow and she sends an arrow at their enemy.

He blocks it with his left arm shield, with a defiant smirk in his lips. The embedded arrow dissipates abruptly and explodes around him. The armor is undamaged, but it provides enough distraction with the dense smoke.

Auguste takes advantage of the situation and with a bombardment hex, launches himself at their enemy and slams his staff at the man's stomach. The teiwaz rune fades slightly and Auguste follows it up with a strong heel kick to the same area, bringing the extremist down. Louis doesn't take any chance and hits the man with three stunners to the face.

"Bravo team reporting in, second armor secured with some enemies captured and disabled." Bahorel sounds off in the communicator and signals everyone to stun and transfigure them into guinea pigs. "We'll need some of them for veritaserum testimonies!"

"Good work, converge with Charlie and Alpha teams. Don't forget to destroy your side of the facility." Eponine remarks in HQ.

"Does it work with Maximillian's suit?" Auguste inquires and frowns when Mira shakes her head.

"He wanted full control of his suit without the off switch. Only way we can beat him is with numbers and possibly find a way to drain the squib blood conduit he's using."

Marius' eyes grow wide at the statement and he says, "You mean like the same concept of the service wands of Senior Aurors, Captains and the head of our magical police."

Mira nods and suggests, "If we can create a leak somewhere in the actual armor and hold our line, we might be able to capture him without blowing him to bits."

"That settles it. Destroy your designated area and head on the center. Charlie team is keeping them at bay with their wand work, while Alpha team retrieves Hermione's wand." Eponine squawks through their communicators.

_Charlie Team - Fifteen minutes later_

Luna is first to the scene and sees Hermione's shots pinging off the magical shield on Maximillian himself.

"Thrice-damned armors, I'm using explosive rounds now and it doesn't even hit him!" she hisses in frustration, loading a new clip while keeping Max distracted. Ron, Feuilly and Courfeyrac fire rockets at Maximillian, showering him with sparks.

To Luna's frustration, he isn't affected at all. Another magical pulse batters through the group, but Harry shields them a strong _protego_ spell from both his wands. A drop of sweat falls from his forehead and Maximillian smirks, "Is this the one I feared? My spy told me you were only a lucky man not worth my attention."

Harry's shoulders straightened and deflected the latest white pulse back at Maximillian, who dodges and evades it armor and all an inch away. "Is this the runemaster they told me that planned and warded the Patagonian Desert from muggles during Krum's win at the world cup?" Harry mocks with a glint on his eye for the insult.

Percy interrupts the banter by sneaking in from behind. He slams his cane on Maximillian's head and gives a strong heel kick to follow up the strike. Both connected to a faint shield and Maximillian backhands him to the ground. Luna blocks the retaliating pulse of pulsing white magic.

"The Scarlet Pimpernel also makes an appearance. It looks like you have interesting allies, Harry Potter." The armored runemaster quipped and then his eyebrows furrow in disgust as a killing curse flew out at him from Harun's wand.

Just then, a loud series of explosions come out of the south wing and from the dust comes out the members of the Bravo team walk calmly past the dust cloud.

"Good to know you can't make those suits anymore, Maximillian D'Artagan." Auguste remarks, firing off a rapid burst of his darker repertoire of piercing hexes taught at Auror Academy.

The shields puncture for a split second from Enjolras' burst, but regenerates almost instantaneously. "I only need one to beat France, Britain and the ICW's Mavericks. I'll even cry in your funeral during the international trials!" Maximillian's armor hums louder and the blue pulsing energy from the runes glows brighter. A moment later, everyone from Alpha, Bravo and Charlie Team take cover behind shields and debris as Maximillian launches short beams of searing white energy from his palms.

The explosions rock around them. "Damn it, move around and stop staying on one spot like sitting ducks. Mira, now's the time to think if three satchels of semtex would bring down the shield, armor and blood conduit!" Eponine squawks over the communicators for everyone. "We have only an hour left on our mission window before we're spotted by mundane militia hovering around these parts."

A loud fizzling sound makes Mira duck and the attack misses her by only half an inch from her frazzled hair. "Yes, that amount should do. It might just drain the suit enough for us to overpower and disarm him for the capture."

Harry catches Percy and Auguste's eyes and all three use their own methods to avoid detection. Harry wears the cloak, Percy activates his invisibility charms, and Auguste disillusions himself, all of them with their C4 charges ready.

Azelma sends whirring balls of light and Ron lets loose experimental fireworks towards Maximillian, overloading his senses with lights and noise. The leaders of the three squads manage to place in their explosives on the back of the rune armor.

"Detonate!" Auguste shouts and the three press their detonators only to have their eyes widen in surprise when nothing happens.

"Good old EMP field I placed eh? That fried your electronics right out." Max cockily exclaims with a smirk and fires another round of magic at the three teams surrounding him.

"Does anyone have ideas?" Harry deadpans, reinforcing the wall section covering Alpha team.

Louis gives Apolline a look and she nods. Tapping the bandage communicator, she whispers the plan to Eponine. What everyone else could hear was, "Where in Le Fay's ragged hair did you even get that idea, Apolline?"


	25. Chapter 25

_November 27, 2015_

_Lethifold Division HQ, Enjolras Residence_

Marguerite gives Eponine a meaningful look, but she is cut off. Eponine raises her hand slightly before saying, "I'm out of possible solutions. The Delacours' plan is the only one we have right now."

"It's crazy enough to work though, Eponine. We used up the last of the semtex we have for this mission." Marguerite remarks as she places a comforting hand on her companion's free hand.

Eponine takes a deep breath and closes her eyes to resolve herself for the next phases of the suggested plan.

"Apolline and Louis, take left arm! Gavroche and Azelma, take right arm. Hermione, shoot the boosters. Courfeyrac, Feuilly, Combeferre, Mikhail, and Katherine, make as much sound as you can once I'm finished here. Harry and Auguste, lightning spells at the two semtex pockets. That should give us time to disable his weapon systems. Everyone else start shielding and deflecting the white pulses of magic. On my go. Go!"

Fireworks, exploding paper cranes, sparks and spellfire bombard and overwhelm the built in sensors from Maximillian. As he fires off return salvos blindly, the Delacours and the Thenadier siblings conjure reinforced steel chains and with synchronized precision, banish one of the ends towards Maximillian. They manage to wrap it tightly on both arms after a few quick spells.

Hermione fires off eight rounds and reloads within five seconds to fire off another clip, disabling both feet boosters. Ron follows up with shielding Hermione by floating one of the fallen support pillars in the line of fire. "Wingardium Leviosa," he mutters jokingly and earns him an irritated but amused smile from his wife.

Luna locks eyes with Maximillian and shields everyone else. The icy cold void behind her grey eyes gives Maximillian an involuntary shiver up his spine, seeing his strongest setting projectiles shielded or deflected effortlessly from Mrs. Potter.

A moment later, Maximillian hears two thunderclaps and bolts of lightning from his left and right burst open the arm armors spilling off the circulating superheated squib's blood and evaporating it, making him roughly land to the ground.

Feeling absolutely backed into a corner, he launches his remaining left arm armor towards Apolline and Louis. Having his left hand free, he begins to draw runes in the air. The air-drawn runes dissipate after glowing blue and then transform into gouges of fire, spears of ice, and pressure waves. It weakens the other chain on his right arm and launches the gnarled piece of metal at Gavroche and Azelma.

Combeferre, Bahorel and Grantaire take the defensive cudgels from Luna, who takes a moment to catch her breath. Mira hands her a pepper-up potion to get her back in shape again.

As the three stem the tide, Katherine gives Mikhail a meaningful look and whispers, "Are you going to go all out on him?"

"I'll just have to hope you can stop me if I go beyond my limit." Mikhail walks forward with origami cranes floating around him, three rice paper talismans glowing blood red, and his 10 inch _balete_ wand on his right hand.

He begins by matching Maximillian's rune-powered attacks with his talismans absorbing most of the damage from the conjurations. His origami cranes exhaust themselves and burn after releasing devastating bombardment hexes trapped within. Max handles the attacks with ease, to Mikhail's chagrin.

"This is the best from the ICW? No wonder you couldn't interfere with Voldemort." Max mocks drawing a complete rune circle with his right hand and a giant stone fist flies towards Mikhail, obscuring Max's sight.

The ICW veteran exhales in annoyance and his wand pulses in an eerie light. He slices the projectile cleanly in half, sending a large narrow wave heading towards Maximillian. _"Two"_ He reminds himself, feeling the giddy excitement radiating from his wand. He sees it deflected with ease, sending the spell flying into the air until it dissipates.

With a sinister grin, Mikhail Chung's façade darkens and he unleashes fiendfyre at Maximillian. The cursed flames take the form of a massive Chimera and it roars towards his target. Katherine quickly casts a disarming charm at her partner and pulls him out as he falls unconscious.

"Why is Mikhail down?" Eponine asks, watching the Chimera keep Max occupied as he stops his offensive.

"He cannot be allowed to fire off three offensive spells within one week from that wand, Eponine. The last time he did it, it caused a category five tropical cyclone back home in the islands." Katherine explains, helping keep the onslaught going.

The volume of spells increase, but Combeferre, Joly and Marius do their best to keep the raging inferno contained by walls of bluebell flames around the battlefield.

The hastily drawn runes in the air buckle and wobble to the pressure. Maximillian's eyes widen at the gaping maw trying to take a bite out of him. Using both his hands, he weaves a combination of Egyptian, Aramaic and Norse runes and slams his concentrated magic unto the raging beast. The curse flame disappears and to his surprise a rogue lightning spell hits his shields and it falls, hitting the last piece of semtex on his body. With his body at its limit on exhaustion, he returns fire with a concentrated blast of white energy from his torso and hits the one who defeats him.

The suit cracks and loses the last of the squib blood within the suit and Maximillian falls unconscious on the floor.

Harun lies down on the floor with a smile lining his lips, seeing the stars above him once more. The first to his side is Mira Haddad, trying her best to heal the wound, but it will not close. "Damn it, too many of his vital organs are hit!" She screams in frustration and she locks eyes with Harun.

The serene smile turns into a grin and he mutters, "Of all the missions in the entire world, I have the worst luck of finally finding you Junah, my baby sister." He touches her cheek, seeing the recognition in her eyes and he closes his forever.

"No! Harun!" Junah begs into the unforgiving night sky, clutching the older man tight in her embrace. "No!" She weeps over the body, while Harry and Auguste's teams secure Maximillian.

Eponine's tears flow silently as she nods to Marguerite in the control room. "Armand, extraction is a go, do you copy?"

"I hear you loud and clear. I'm on top of the clearing made by Harry. He really went all out with wrecking enough space for landing. What are your orders?"

"Extraction and bomb the place to oblivion if possible."

"Roger wilco, over and out." Armand replies, landing the Chinook and seeing Gabrielle assist him with bringing everyone in. Hermione gets her wand back and summons all the remaining paperwork she and Ron managed to find in the compound. Harry is the last man in and the helicopter lifts off.

After achieving lift-off and getting to a safe distance, Armand asks, "Permission to launch ordinance," but before he gets his answer, Harry interrupts.

"I'll do it. Save the explosives for the other missions with Percy." Harry remarks. He points to the AWRI compound and uses the Elder wand to cast an overpowered bombardment. A series of loud booms erupts from the very foundations of the structures and the sands engulf the burning remains in the follow up spell.

The sun slowly rises to the east and Harry takes one last look at the folks with him. Gabrielle ruffles the hair of Gavroche, who is sleeping heavily from her lap in exhaustion. Combeferre, Bahorel, Joly, Grantaire, Feuilly, and Courfeyrac all snore in their seats. Cosette and Marius, as well as Azelma and Jehan cuddle together and sleeping it off in their makeshift transfigured beds. Maximillian is secured by six stunning spells and wearing a muggle straight jacket to restrain him further.

But the last sight rocks Enjolras' sight of a despondent Mira, holding the body of Harun with Apolline and Louis silent, but beside her in grief. He gulps at the thought of losing people each and every time in his Auror work.

Harry transfigures the empty Chinook wall before them into tempered glass and Auguste reinforces it, giving them a beautiful view of the sun slowly rising in the east, just by the horizon. \

"We did a good job all things considered, regardless of the odds. I hope we will all meet in better circumstances." Percy quips with an exhausted grin on his lips. "But do we stop here? I certainly am going to do continue my missions in the ISIS controlled zones. And I'd love to work with both of you in the magical equivalent of the League of the Scarlet Pimpernel."

"No Percy. It's best I handle England for now. The gangs fighting for the power vacuum in Knockturn Alley are getting more agitated by the day. I'm trying to have that nipped in the bud before another Voldemort takes over." Harry declines the offer but continues, "But this won't be the end of our time working together, you can count on it."

Auguste smiles and shakes his head, "France needs me now. I'll do my best to prevent another attack by extremists."

Percy nods in understanding and they all do a quick toast from three glasses from one of his many pockets filled up with Scottish whiskey.

After the shared shot, Harry takes out the ring with the resurrection stone. Auguste spots it and gives him a meaningful glance before whispering, "It's the right thing to do."

Harry excuses himself and walks towards Mira, Louis and Apolline with the ring, wand, and cloak on hand. Kneeling down beside the grieving Mira, Harry catches Mira's eye and says, "I can let you talk to him for a few minutes. I can't go beyond that because the stone doesn't actually resurrect people from the dead. It lures them to the grave. I know because I experienced it myself."

Louis asks, "As long as you're sure, we'll let you." Apolline thumbs the recorder runes Mira gave her for their case against Maximillian and nods in ascent.

Mira takes a deep breath and whispers, "Mira Haddad is gone now, I'm Junah Benayoun." She gives them all a sad smile and adds, "Let's proceed with it, Harry Potter."

Harry wears the ring and asks the three to touch the stone as he taps it with the elder wand. A moment later, they all see the shade of Harun Benayoun. Harry stops all of them from speaking, points the deathstick at Harun and says, "I know you're a shade, but I do not permit you to take Junah's soul. I suggest you behave Harun."

Harun's shade nods in acceptance and catches up with Junah by telling stories of his adventures and where to find his will for her to start anew. As she converses with Harun, Apolline and Louis keep watch and move the tip of their wands to find and dispel any dark magic influences running about from Harun's shade.

A few hours later, Luna wraps her arms around Harry's waist a on the makeshift hammock inside the helicopter and she whispers, "You did something good for a complete stranger. Thank you Harry."

"No, Luna love. I'm just thanking her for the help she provided behind the scenes. Now let us get some rest then spend time with Lily today." Harry replies, embracing his wife and lying in complete silence of the exhausted volunteers of the Lethifold Division. He knows that the fight and darkness isn't over, but he contents himself with the fact that they all did something to strike a blow against evil today.


	26. Epilogue

_December 15, 2015_

_Valjean Residence – Paris, France_

Harry finishes up his cup of tea, while he and Jean sit down on a small makeshift coffee table, facing a vibrant garden of green grass, neatly trimmed everlasting rose bushes, and healthy herbs of basil, rosemary and thyme. "My friend Neville Longbottom would be envious of your garden, Mr. Valjean."

"I'd love to meet someone with the same passion for gardening as I do. The computer does get me worn out sometimes and my body isn't what it used to be. Still, there's something comforting about it, don't you agree?" Jean replies with a knowing smile on his lips.

"Definitely, Luna has more plants she wants to put in, but I'd like to think I have a good grasp of raising herbs and vegetables." Harry remarks as he raises his cup to toast Jean's insight.

Jean Valjean nods and meet's Harry's cup with his and they complete the toast. "I also have this little shovel to thank. It saved me for a couple to tight spots, especially those oblivators when I found out Cosette was a witch." He shows Harry a non-descript trowel with a green handle.

Harry notices the strength still evident in Valjean's arms and he knew he wouldn't want to be on the receiving end of that blow.

Auguste comes in and the old man excuses himself, "I think I'd best leave this to both of you for now. I'd have to finish preparations for Eponine's request."

Once Valjean leaves, Auguste takes a seat and they share a knowing looking before casting their preferred set of privacy wards.

The cups clean themselves up and the teapot's contents switch to Arabic coffee. "To Harun." Auguste raises his cup and Harry follows suit, offering their salute to their fallen friend.

"So, Eponine proceeded with the decommissioning of the Lethifold Division?" Harry asks while taking a sip of the green caffeinated liquid.

Auguste nods and explains, "I've argued with her about it. We can stop more attacks in France with the hologlobe and the eyes in the sky. But what she replied strikes me as the most important thing. 'With this, yes Auguste, we can save French lives, but what about everyone else? You're focusing on the Auror Division and I have my dreams realized with my work in the Hospital. I've realized that magic has its limitations and if we breach the Statute of Secrecy too often, the mundane will notice and it will be the end of our world. We can save more lives by helping the UN team from time to time, along with our work here in Paris. We've given hundreds of magical families a chance to a better life. I'm not ready to give that away to be your Oracle.'"

"That also made me realized that if the technology we use falls to the wrong hand, it will be dangerous." Auguste finishes his explanation with a sigh.

"I couldn't say no to that. So we sent the armors we've made to the Department of Mysteries for both our Ministries. Pity we could not use the Sonar Pulses without our eyes in the sky interface though. The milder versions of zap-arounds however are exclusively sold at the _La Resistance_ shop of tricks at _Rue dela Magie_." A chuckle is shared by the two for a while and their worries float away.

"I've heard what Ron and Marguerite did to Zacharias Smith with the arrest. How did you manage to put him in Azkaban?" Enjolras asks with a curious tone on his voice.

Harry shrugs and glances at Jean Valjean for a moment, as he helps Luna and Cosette set up the Christmas tree. "We couldn't have done it without Mr. Valjean to be honest. He tapped into the London CCTVs and found that little nugget of information on Smith's involvement. After that, Marguerite and Ron did the rest. Let me tell you, Scotland Yard and the MI6 were up in arms about the hack until I showed up to pacify those guys."

"We've always wondered how you've gotten away with magic in the mundane world. I've heard you've met John Alastor Moody?" Auguste remarks with his eyebrows raising up and betraying the stoic façade he has.

"He's a good friend of mine. His uncle and namesake Mad-Eye convinced him to go to Scotland Yard because he was non-magical. I remember after the war, he took down the three runaway death eaters I was trailing, while armed with only a butter knife and a single bullet from a snub-nosed revolver he forgot to reload a few hours earlier. He would still shout 'Constant Vigilance' at the staff from time to time." Harry takes another sip of his drink and lets out a sigh. "I'm weary of wars, Auguste. I've seen too much of it since I was fourteen. I'm just happy we dodged a war for both worlds for now."

"That we can both hope for, especially now that Maximillian is in a magical cell in _Fort de Tournoux_ that is specially designed for someone of his caliber. Bahorel and Grantaire really outdid themselves in closing all avenues. We closed him out on Terrorism charges and blatant violation of the International Statute of Secrecy. De Morcerf, Villefort, Danglars, and Associates didn't stand a chance." Auguste nods and sees that their cups are empty.

"I think they were shocked when they saw Marguerite St. Just walk in with Percy with her. The extremists behind them were hopping like those Chinese Vampires with their hands raised forward. Katherine and Mikhail came in which silenced the crowds given their reputations in the ICW. Maximillian's defense team completely lost it when I walked in with Hermione." Harry refills their cups and focuses his attention to Auguste.

Taking a sip of the green brew, Auguste smirks, "Once Hermione Granger walked in, they knew that they were screwed." Auguste looks out to the well-maintained garden and asks, "Will your family be here for Christmas?"

Harry shakes his head and replies, "I'll take you up on your offer for Ramen night though next month. I bet Luna has some ideas for the broth that involves a cow head this time." He stands up and shakes Auguste's hand. "Thank you for everything and I hope we'll keep them at bay for a long time, Auguste."

"I hope so too Harry, for Lily and Ian's sakes." Auguste remarks, leading his English counterpart back inside the Valjean residence.

Laughter greets them as they see Luna and Azelma doing a pirouette together in sync. Lily and Hugo sit by the fire along with Eponine, who answers their questions about Ian. Hermione, Ron, Marius, and Cosette play Risk on the floor while watching the dancing duo. Gav is watching programming with a Raspberry Pi with Jean. As Auguste joins Eponine and the kids, Harry smiles softly at Luna and whispers to himself, "This peace is worth fighting for."


End file.
